American Cheetah - Taxonomy and Evolution

Taxonomy and Evolution

Research into the American cheetah has been contradictory. It was originally believed to be an early cougar representative, before being reclassified in the 1970s as a close relative of the cheetah. This suggested that ancestors of the cheetah diverged from the Puma lineage in the Americas and migrated back to the Old World, a claim repeated as recently as Johnson et. al. (2006). Other research by Barnett, however, examining mitochondrial DNA and re-analyzing morphology, has suggested reversing the reclassification: the American cheetah developed cheetah-like characteristics through convergent evolution, but it is most closely related to Puma and not to the modern cheetah of Africa and Asia. The supposed American origin of the modern cheetah is thus equivocal; however, it is believed to have evolved from cougar-like ancestors, whether in the Old or New World.

The cougar and M. trumani are believed to have split from a cougar-like ancestor around three million years ago; where M. inexpectatus fits in is unclear, although it likely is a more primitive version of M. trumani.