Figure 1: Phylogeny of the Felis lineage of small cats.

(a) Image of a young black-footed cat (Felis nigripes). Courtesy of Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Cleveland, OH. (b) This felid phylogeny suggests that the black-footed cat (Felis nigripes) had a common ancestor with the domestic cat (Felis catus) approximately 3 million years ago. Adapted from Li et al.17.