Taxonomy
Felis once contained most of the small cats, and at times contained a very large number of species. In 1951, zoologist Reginald Innes Pocock identified 40 taxa previously described as separate species as actually being subspecies of Felis silvestris, thus greatly reducing the size of the genus. Today, few of these subspecies are recognised as being distinct, while the majority of species of small cats have been separated into their own genera, such as Leopardus and Puma.
Pallas's cat has an especially complicated taxonomic history. The bloated genus was later split into many smaller genera, resulting in Pallas's cat being reclassified as the only member of the genus Otocolobus. However, during the late 20th century, it was considered to be closely related to the remaining species of the genus Felis and was classified accordingly. Finally, recent research has shown it to be closely related to both Felis and Prionailurus. As a result, the genus Otocolobus has been resurrected and Pallas's cat has been reclassified (again).
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