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Glass, G.E.; Todd, N.B.
Quasi-continuous variation of the second upper premolar in _Felis bengalensis_ Kerr and its significance for some fossil lynxes
1977 Zeitschrift fr S„ugetierkunde (42(1)): 36-44
Felis (Prionailurus) bengalensis, the leopard cat, is distributed throughout the Far East, in the Amur Basin and along the coast of the Sea of Japan northward to approximately 51ø N latitude, westward to Blagoveschensk in the USSR, and southward in Korea, China, Tibet, Indochina, Burma, Nepal, India, northwestern Pakistan, Sumatra, Bali, Java, Borneo, and the Philippine Islands (Novikov 1962; Alwis 1973). This wide distribution makes the species ideal for studies of geographic variation, especially in regard to those characters which have been important in felid systematics. The absence of P2 in Lynx has generally been regarded as diagnostic for distinguishing Lynx from Felis (Teilhard de Chardin and Leroy 1945: Savage 1960; KurtŠn 1963). Pocock (1917) forcefully suggested, however, that this was a dubious character on which to separate the two taxa. Instead, he preferred to raise them to the generic level on the basis of the presence, in Lynx, of the relatively slender nasal branch of the premaxillae, and the thinner, less depressed and sharper postorbital processes, as well as the shape of the palate and the more anterior placement of the first large upper premolar (P3). The dubious nature of P2 as a diagnostic character is supported by the universal absence of P2 in F (Otocolobus) manul (Pocock 1951). In addition, Searle (1959) reported that P2 was absent in 21.9 per cent (n=32) of felis catus from Singapore, which is not significantly different from the value of 22.6 per cent (n=31) obtained by Todd et al. (1974) for F. catus in Caracas, Venezuela and 23.6 percent (n=89) for f.catus from northern Mexico (Todd and Glass, MS) but much higher than the 3.4 per cent (n=290) reported by Bateson (1894) in England.
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