Melanism is the congenital excess of melanin in an organism resulting in dark pigment .
41-455: Felidae ( / ˈ f ɛ l ɪ d iː / ) is the family of mammals in the order Carnivora colloquially referred to as cats . A member of this family is also called a felid ( / ˈ f iː l ɪ d / ). The 41 extant Felidae species exhibit the greatest diversity in fur patterns of all terrestrial carnivores. Cats have retractile claws , slender muscular bodies and strong flexible forelimbs. Their teeth and facial muscles allow for
82-463: A Mendelian , monogenic recessive trait relative to the spotted form. Pairings of black animals have a significantly smaller litter size than other possible pairings. Between January 1996 and March 2009, Indochinese leopards were photographed at 16 sites in the Malay Peninsula in a sampling effort of more than 1000 trap nights. Of 445 photographs of melanistic leopards, 410 were taken south of
123-497: A foraging advantage during night hunting. Typically, adaptive melanism is heritable : A dominant allele , which is entirely or nearly entirely expressed in the phenotype , is responsible for the excessive amount of melanin. By contrast, adaptive melanism associated with Batesian mimicry in Zelandoperla fenestrata stoneflies is controlled by a recessive allele at the ebony locus. Adaptive melanism has been shown to occur in
164-496: A half of the body length, although with some exceptions, like the Lynx species and margay ( Leopardus wiedii ). Cat species vary greatly in body and skull sizes, and weights: Most cat species have a haploid number of 18 or 19. Central and South American cats have a haploid number of 18, possibly due to the combination of two smaller chromosomes into a larger one. Felidae have type IIx muscle fibers three times more powerful than
205-443: A high-altitude adaptation, since black fur absorbs more light for warmth. The chicken breeds Silkie and Ayam Cemani commonly exhibit this trait. Ayam Cemani is an uncommon and relatively modern breed of chicken from Indonesia. They have a dominant gene that causes hyperpigmentation (Fibromelanosis), making the chicken entirely black; including feathers, beak, and internal organs. In April 2015, an extremely rare black flamingo
246-554: A lack of widespread consensus within the scientific community for extended periods. The continual publication of new data and diverse opinions plays a crucial role in facilitating adjustments and ultimately reaching a consensus over time. The naming of families is codified by various international bodies using the following suffixes: The taxonomic term familia was first used by French botanist Pierre Magnol in his Prodromus historiae generalis plantarum, in quo familiae plantarum per tabulas disponuntur (1689) where he called
287-597: A powerful bite. They are all obligate carnivores , and most are solitary predators ambushing or stalking their prey. Wild cats occur in Africa , Europe , Asia and the Americas . Some wild cat species are adapted to forest and savanna habitats , some to arid environments, and a few also to wetlands and mountainous terrain. Their activity patterns range from nocturnal and crepuscular to diurnal , depending on their preferred prey species. Reginald Innes Pocock divided
328-709: A variety of animals, including mammals such as squirrels , many cats and canids , and coral snakes . Adaptive melanism can lead to the creation of morphs , a notable example being the peppered moth , whose evolutionary history in the United Kingdom is offered as a classic instructional tool for teaching the principles of natural selection . A more replicated example of human-induced shifts in melanism has arisen from repeated selection against melanic Zelandoperla fenestrata stonefly phenotypes following widespread deforestation in New Zealand . Industrial melanism
369-438: Is an evolutionary effect in insects such as the peppered moth, Biston betularia in areas subject to industrial pollution . Darker pigmented individuals are favored by natural selection , apparently because they are better camouflaged against polluted backgrounds. When pollution was later reduced, lighter forms regained the advantage and melanism became less frequent. Other explanations have been proposed, such as that
410-584: Is another variant of pigmentation, identifiable by dark spots or enlarged stripes, which cover a large part of the body of the animal, making it appear melanistic. The morbid deposition of black matter, often of a malignant character causing pigmented tumors , is called melanosis . Melanism related to the process of adaptation is called adaptive. Most commonly, dark individuals become fitter to survive and reproduce in their environment as they are better camouflaged. This makes some species less conspicuous to predators, while others, such as leopards , use it as
451-499: Is commonly referred to as the "walnut family". The delineation of what constitutes a family— or whether a described family should be acknowledged— is established and decided upon by active taxonomists . There are not strict regulations for outlining or acknowledging a family, yet in the realm of plants, these classifications often rely on both the vegetative and reproductive characteristics of plant species. Taxonomists frequently hold varying perspectives on these descriptions, leading to
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#1732844396863492-519: Is not melanism. This rare genetic disorder is characterized by the development of macules with hyperpigmentation on the lips and oral mucosa ( melanosis ), as well as benign polyps in the gastrointestinal tract. The term melanism has been used on Usenet , internet forums and blogs to mean an African-American social movement holding that dark-skinned humans are the original people from which those of other skin color originate. The term melanism has been used in this context as early as
533-480: Is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy . It is classified between order and genus . A family may be divided into subfamilies , which are intermediate ranks between the ranks of family and genus. The official family names are Latin in origin; however, popular names are often used: for example, walnut trees and hickory trees belong to the family Juglandaceae , but that family
574-757: Is the oldest known cat that occurred after the Eocene–Oligocene extinction event about 33.9 million years ago ; fossil remains were excavated in France and Mongolia's Hsanda Gol Formation . Fossil occurrences indicate that the Felidae arrived in North America around 18.5 million years ago . This is about 20 million years later than the Ursidae and the Nimravidae , and about 10 million years later than
615-588: Is the oldest known pantherine cat dated to the late Messinian to early Zanclean ages about 5.95 to 4.1 million years ago . A fossil skull was excavated in 2010 in Zanda County on the Tibetan Plateau . Panthera palaeosinensis from North China probably dates to the Late Miocene or Early Pliocene . The skull of the holotype is similar to that of a lion or leopard. Panthera zdanskyi dates to
656-455: The Genera Plantarum of George Bentham and Joseph Dalton Hooker this word ordo was used for what now is given the rank of family. Families serve as valuable units for evolutionary, paleontological, and genetic studies due to their relatively greater stability compared to lower taxonomic levels like genera and species. Melanism Pseudomelanism, also called abundism,
697-622: The Canidae . In the Early Miocene about 20 to 16.6 million years ago , Pseudaelurus lived in Africa. Its fossil jaws were also excavated in geological formations of Europe's Vallesian , Asia's Middle Miocene and North America's late Hemingfordian to late Barstovian epochs. In the Early or Middle Miocene, the saber-toothed Machairodontinae evolved in Africa and migrated northwards in
738-753: The Feliformia . All members of the cat family have the following characteristics in common: The colour, length and density of their fur are very diverse. Fur colour covers the gamut from white to black, and fur patterns from distinctive small spots, and stripes to small blotches and rosettes . Most cat species are born with spotted fur, except the jaguarundi ( Herpailurus yagouaroundi ), Asian golden cat ( Catopuma temminckii ) and caracal ( Caracal caracal ). The spotted fur of lion ( Panthera leo ), cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) and cougar ( Puma concolor ) cubs change to uniform fur during their ontogeny . Those living in cold environments have thick fur with long hair, like
779-570: The Gelasian about 2.55 to 2.16 million years ago . Several fossil skulls and jawbones were excavated in northwestern China. Panthera gombaszoegensis is the earliest known pantherine cat that lived in Europe about 1.95 to 1.77 million years ago . Living felids fall into eight evolutionary lineages or species clades . Genotyping of the nuclear DNA of all 41 felid species revealed that hybridization between species occurred in
820-546: The Kra Isthmus , where the non-melanistic morph was never photographed. These data suggest the near fixation of the dark allele in the region. The expected time to fixation of this recessive allele due to genetic drift alone ranged from about 1,100 years to about 100,000 years. Melanism in leopards has been hypothesized to be causally associated with a selective advantage for ambush. Other theories are that genes for melanism in felines may provide resistance to viral infections, or
861-755: The Late Miocene . With their large upper canines , they were adapted to prey on large-bodied megaherbivores . Miomachairodus is the oldest known member of this subfamily. Metailurus lived in Africa and Eurasia about 8 to 6 million years ago . Several Paramachaerodus skeletons were found in Spain. Homotherium appeared in Africa, Eurasia and North America around 3.5 million years ago , and Megantereon about 3 million years ago . Smilodon lived in North and South America from about 2.5 million years ago . This subfamily became extinct in
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#1732844396863902-588: The Late Pleistocene . Results of mitochondrial analysis indicate that the living Felidae species descended from a common ancestor , which originated in Asia in the Late Miocene epoch. They migrated to Africa, Europe and the Americas in the course of at least 10 migration waves during the past ~11 million years. Low sea levels and interglacial and glacial periods facilitated these migrations. Panthera blytheae
943-451: The snow leopard ( Panthera uncia ) and the Pallas's cat ( Otocolobus manul ). Those living in tropical and hot climate zones have short fur. Several species exhibit melanism with all-black individuals, cougars are notable for lacking melanism but leucism and albinism are present in cougars along with many other felids. In the great majority of cat species, the tail is between a third and
984-581: The Pantherinae and Felinae, with the Acinonychinae subsumed into the latter. Pantherinae includes five Panthera and two Neofelis species , while Felinae includes the other 34 species in 12 genera . The first cats emerged during the Oligocene about 25 million years ago , with the appearance of Proailurus and Pseudaelurus . The latter species complex was ancestral to two main lines of felids:
1025-434: The body from harmful ultraviolet radiation . The same ultraviolet radiation is essential for the synthesis of vitamin D in skin, so lighter colored skin – less melanin – is an adaptation related to the prehistoric movement of humans away from equatorial regions, as there is less exposure to sunlight at higher latitudes. People from parts of Africa, South Asia , Southeast Asia , and Australia may have very dark skin, but this
1066-530: The cats in the extant subfamilies and a group of extinct "saber-tooth" felids of the subfamily Machairodontinae , which range from the type genus Machairodus of the late Miocene to Smilodon of the Pleistocene. The "false saber-toothed cats", the Barbourofelidae and Nimravidae , are not true cats but are closely related. Together with the Felidae, Viverridae , hyenas and mongooses , they constitute
1107-531: The course of evolution within the majority of the eight lineages. Modelling of felid coat pattern transformations revealed that nearly all patterns evolved from small spots. Traditionally, five subfamilies had been distinguished within the Felidae based on phenotypical features: the Pantherinae , the Felinae , the Acinonychinae, and the extinct Machairodontinae and Proailurinae . Acinonychinae used to only contain
1148-420: The extant Felidae into three subfamilies: the Pantherinae , the Felinae and the Acinonychinae, differing from each other by the ossification of the hyoid apparatus and by the cutaneous sheaths which protect their claws. This concept has been revised following developments in molecular biology and techniques for the analysis of morphological data. Today, the living Felidae are divided into two subfamilies:
1189-530: The family as a rank intermediate between order and genus was introduced by Pierre André Latreille in his Précis des caractères génériques des insectes, disposés dans un ordre naturel (1796). He used families (some of them were not named) in some but not in all his orders of "insects" (which then included all arthropods ). In nineteenth-century works such as the Prodromus of Augustin Pyramus de Candolle and
1230-439: The following cladogram: Sunda clouded leopard (N. diardi) Clouded leopard ( N. nebulosa ) Tiger (P. tigris) Snow leopard (P. uncia) Jaguar (P. onca) Lion ( P. leo ) Leopard ( P. pardus ) Serval (L. serval) African golden cat ( C. aurata ) Caracal ( C. caracal ) Andean mountain cat ( L. jacobita ) Family (biology) Family ( Latin : familia , pl. : familiae )
1271-399: The fully black color evolved over time and was thus selected for over many generations. Melanism, meaning a mutation that results in completely dark skin, does not exist in humans. In humans, the amount of melanin is determined by three dominant alleles (AABBCC), and different ethnicities have varying amounts. Melanin is the primary determinant of the degree of skin pigmentation and protects
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1312-859: The genus Acinonyx but this genus is now within the Felinae subfamily. The following cladogram based on Piras et al. (2013) depicts the phylogeny of basal living and extinct groups. † Proailurus bourbonnensis † Proailurus lemanensis † Proailurus major † Pseudaelurus quadridentatus † Pseudaelurus cuspidatus † Pseudaelurus guangheesis † Machairodontinae [REDACTED] † Hyperailurictis intrepidus † Hyperailurictis marshi † Hyperailurictis stouti † Hyperailurictis validus † Hyperailurictis skinneri † Sivaelurus chinjiensis † Styriofelis turnauensis † Styriofelis romieviensis Felinae [REDACTED] † Miopanthera lorteti † Miopanthera pamiri Pantherinae [REDACTED] The phylogenetic relationships of living felids are shown in
1353-400: The jaguarundi. Sequencing of the agouti signalling peptide in the agouti gene coding region revealed a 2-base pair deletion in black domestic cats . These variants were absent in melanistic individuals of Geoffroy's cat , oncilla , pampas cat and Asian golden cat , suggesting that melanism arose independently at least four times in the cat family. Melanism in leopards is inherited as
1394-426: The melanin pigment enhances function of immune defences, or a thermal advantage from the darker coloration. Melanistic coat coloration occurs as a common polymorphism in 11 of 37 felid species and reaches high population frequency in some cases but never achieves complete fixation . The black panther , a melanistic leopard , is common in the equatorial rainforest of Malaya and the tropical rainforest on
1435-478: The muscle fibers of human athletes. The family Felidae is part of the Feliformia , a suborder that diverged probably about 50.6 to 35 million years ago into several families. The Felidae and the Asiatic linsangs are considered a sister group , which split about 35.2 to 31.9 million years ago . The earliest cats probably appeared about 35 to 28.5 million years ago . Proailurus
1476-567: The seventy-six groups of plants he recognised in his tables families ( familiae ). The concept of rank at that time was not yet settled, and in the preface to the Prodromus Magnol spoke of uniting his families into larger genera , which is far from how the term is used today. In his work Philosophia Botanica published in 1751, Carl Linnaeus employed the term familia to categorize significant plant groups such as trees , herbs , ferns , palms , and so on. Notably, he restricted
1517-450: The slopes of some African mountains, such as Mount Kenya . The serval also has melanistic forms in certain areas of East Africa . In the jaguarundi , coloration varies from dark brown and gray to light reddish. Melanic forms of jaguar are common in certain parts of South America . In 1938 and 1940, two melanistic bobcats were trapped alive in sub-tropical Florida . In 2003, the dominant mode of inheritance of melanism in jaguars
1558-541: The use of this term solely within the book's morphological section, where he delved into discussions regarding the vegetative and generative aspects of plants. Subsequently, in French botanical publications, from Michel Adanson 's Familles naturelles des plantes (1763) and until the end of the 19th century, the word famille was used as a French equivalent of the Latin ordo (or ordo naturalis ). In zoology ,
1599-439: The yellow spots of some sub-species are called xanthophores. It appears that the fully-black phenotypes do not ever develop these xanthophores. Alpine salamanders produce a toxin from their skin, and both fully melanistic, black salamanders and spotted individuals produce the compound. Studies done that traced DNA histories have suggested that the original alpine salamander phenotype was black with some yellow spots, meaning that
1640-414: Was confirmed by performing phenotype -transmission analysis in a 116-individual captive pedigree . Melanistic animals were found to carry at least one copy of a mutant MC1R sequence allele , bearing a 15- base pair inframe deletion. Ten unrelated melanistic jaguars were either homozygous or heterozygous for this allele. A 24-base pair deletion causes the incompletely dominant allele for melanism in
1681-555: Was spotted on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus . The alpine salamander , Salamandra atra , has one subspecies ( S. atra atra ) that is completely black. The pigment comes from a specific cell called a melanophore, which produce the compound melanin. There are four other subspecies of this salamander, and they have varying levels of melanin pigmentation. The subspecies have yellow spots in different concentrations or proportions. The pigment-producing cells that contribute to