Is it really true that the domestic cat (Felis catus) is oddly monophyletic, among domestic mammals?

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The ancestry of most domestic species of mammals involves more than one wild species.

The process of domestication has consisted of selective breeding, combined with interspecific hybridisation.

(For examples and details, please see the first comment, below.)

This is one reason why domestic mammals tend to have specific epithets different from those of ancestral species.

This polyspecific origination of domestic mammals is unsurprising, because

• selective breeding is likely to be most effective by drawing on a wide range of traits, and
• as the proto-domestic form spread from the original location, it was likely to be exposed to allopatric congeners.

Indeed, it may be crucial, in domestication, to draw on the greatest possible genetic variety, for selective breeding to produce successful domestic breeds.

There are a few exceptions to this tendency of polyspecific origination of domestic mammals. The following seem to have been monophyletically derived:

• Oryctolagus cuniculus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_rabbit),
• Rattus norvegicus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fancy_rat), and
• hamsters (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamster and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_hamster)

However, these do not really break the rule, because

• they have had limited success as domestic animals, and
• they have not been given specific epithets as domestic entities, distinct from the wild ancestors.

The major exception, according to the current view, is the domestic cat (Felis catus, https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/118552-Felis-catus). In this case, it is thought that there has been just one ancestor.

The conventional view, for the domestic cat (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat), is that

• the sole ancestor is the Felis lybica/silvestris/bieti (super)species (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felis and https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=4avCAQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA83&dq=Felis+chaus+in+domestication&ots=Rcxu0uNPx8&sig=2kSFw2WlzYV1szADEZL4v_Z2edY#v=onepage&q=Felis%20chaus%20in%20domestication&f=false and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestication_of_the_cat#:~:text=The%20domestic%20cat%20originated%20from,into%20eight%20major%20phylogenetic%20lineages. and https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/sciadv.abg0221 and https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/sciadv.abg0221), and
• the sole location of original domestication was between the eastern Mediterranean Basin and what is now Iraq.

The only breeds documented as being derived by hybridisation are recent ones, viz.

• the Chausie (1995, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chausie),
• the Bengal (ca 1975, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_cat), and
• the Savannah (2001, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savannah_cat).

The remarkable fact is that these successful hybridisations have been not only interspecific (Felis catus X Felis chaus), but also intergeneric (Felis X Prionailurus, and Felis X Leptailurus).

Admittedly, the domestic cat was not subject to as much selective breeding as were other domestic mammals, such as the domestic dog (Canis familiaris). Until the last century, the breeds of F. catus were

• few,
• mainly ornamental/aesthetic, rather than utilitarian, and
• located mainly in southern Asia, from Turkey to Thailand.

However, the notion of monophyletic origin in the domestic cat is questionable, for the following reasons.

• In the ancestral region, both Felis lybica and Felis chaus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jungle_cat and https://animalia.bio/jungle-cat and https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Felis_chaus/) occurred (and continue to occur). Felis chaus contributed to the feline mummies in ancient Egypt (https://gwern.net/doc/cat/genetics/1952-morrisonscott.pdf), and it continues to live in close association with humans today, from Israel to Nepal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chausie and https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rama-Mishra-2/publication/343733351_Opportunistic_records_of_jungle_cat_Felis_chaus_and_their_activity_pattern_in_Koshi_Tappu_Wildlife_Reserve_Nepal/links/5f3cd33ca6fdcccc43d327aa/Opportunistic-records-of-jungle-cat-Felis-chaus-and-their-activity-pattern-in-Koshi-Tappu-Wildlife-Reserve-Nepal.pdf and https://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/article/view/5580 and https://www.thainationalparks.com/species/jungle-cat#:~:text=The%20jungle%20cat%20(Felis%20chaus,riparian%20areas%20with%20dense%20vegetation. and https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Robert-Tizard/publication/226174899_The_Jungle_Cat_Felis_chaus_in_Indochina_A_threatened_population_of_a_widespread_and_adaptable_species/links/595e55baa6fdccc9b17fd426/The-Jungle-Cat-Felis-chaus-in-Indochina-A-threatened-population-of-a-widespread-and-adaptable-species.pdf).
• The utility of cats, in controlling rodent pests in food-stores, presumably applied to all horticultural systems worldwide, including the Americas (e.g. Aztecs, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztecs, and Incas, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inca_Empire).
• Prionailurus bengalensis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopard_cat) is known to have been somewhat domesticated in China, by 7,000 years ago (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160125100118.htm#:~:text=cats%20are%20descended.-,The%20scientists%20have%20thus%20provided%20evidence%20that%20cats%20began%20to,following%20the%20birth%20of%20agriculture. and https://www.livescience.com/41984-cats-domesticated-china.html and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4723238/ and https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/domestic-cats-enjoyed-village-life-in-china-5300-years-ago-180948065/ and https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/dec/17/ancient-cat-bone-research-china-domestic-pet and https://source.wustl.edu/2013/12/cat-domestication-traced-to-chinese-farmers-5300-years-ago/ and https://theconversation.com/earliest-evidence-of-cat-domestication-found-in-china-21552 and https://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2013/1216/How-the-Chinese-domesticated-cats-5-300-years-ago).
• The anthropogenic spread of F. catus worldwide over the last 500 years has increased contact with various other felids, further boosting the possibility of intergeneric hybridisation.
• The relatively docile behaviour of the American genus Leopardus (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&taxon_id=41986&view=species) seems particularly conducive to domestication (https://academic.oup.com/biolinnean/article/75/3/361/2639674?login=false).

There is a considerable literature on genetics in Felis catus (e.g. see the comment 'SIAMESE BREED' below).

However, what remains lacking is broader-based analyses (along the lines of https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283444625_Phylogenomic_evidence_for_ancient_hybridization_in_the_genomes_of_living_cats_Felidae) of certain domestic breeds.

These should take into account the possibilities of prehistoric, anthropogenic hybridisation among spp. of Felis, and between Felis and other genera.

I therefore hypothesise as follows:

• Thai landraces/breeds (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_cat), including the Siamese breed (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siamese_cat), were derived partly from a species - now possibly extinct - of Prionailurus (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&taxon_id=41945&view=species) in/near what is now Thailand, meaning that these in their original form were a species other than Felis catus, but never given a scientific name,
• the Persian breed (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&taxon_id=41945&view=species) was derived from hybridisation between proto-Felis catus and Felis chaus, and
• still awaiting scientific discovery are previously unsuspected genetic introgressions, over the last 500 years, into Felis catus from spp. of Leopardus in central and South America.

Posted on 19 July, 2023 02:34 by milewski