Flat-headed cat

The flat-headed cat (Prionailurus planiceps) is a small wild cat with short reddish-brown fur. Its head is elongated, and its ears are rounded. Its slender body is 41 to 50 cm (16 to 20 in) long with a tail of 13 to 15 cm (5.1 to 5.9 in), and it weighs 1.5 to 2.5 kg (3.3 to 5.5 lb).

The flat-headed cat was first described in 1827 based on a zoological specimen collected in Sumatra. It is also native to the Thai-Malay Peninsula and Borneo, and inhabits wetlands like mixed freshwater swamp forests, peat swamp forests and lowland freshwater swamps near rivers and coastal areas. It preys foremost on fish, frogs and crustaceans.

The flat-headed cat is threatened by habitat destruction due to conversion for settlements, agriculture and oil palm plantations. It has been listed on the IUCN Red List as Endangered since 2008.

The scientific name Felis planiceps was proposed by Nicholas Aylward Vigors and Thomas Horsfield in 1827, who first described a skin of a flat-headed cat specimen collected in Sumatra. Prionailurus was proposed by Nikolai Severtzov in 1858 as generic name for spotted wild cats native to Asia. He proposed the generic name Ictailurus for the flat-headed cat.

In 1951, Ellerman and Morrison-Scott grouped the flat-headed cat with the fishing cat (P. viverrinus), assuming it occurs in Lower Siam, Patani, the Malay States, Sumatra and Borneo. It was subordinated to the genus Prionailurus by Ingrid Weigel in 1961 who compared fur patterns of wild and domestic cats. It was grouped into Ictailurus in 1997 following a study on mitochondrial genes of cat species. Today, it is still considered to be a Prionailurus species.

Phylogenetic analysis of the nuclear DNA in tissue samples from all Felidae species revealed that their evolutionary radiation began in Asia in the Miocene around 14.45 to 8.38 million years ago. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA of Felidae species indicates a radiation at around 16.76 to 6.46 million years ago. Both models agree in the rusty-spotted cat (P. rubiginosus) having been the first cat of the Prionailurus lineage that genetically diverged, followed by the flat-headed cat and then the fishing cat. It is estimated to have diverged together with the leopard cat (P. bengalensis) between 4.31 to 1.74 million years ago and 4.25 to 0.02 million years ago.

The following cladogram shows their phylogenetic relationship as derived through analysis of nuclear DNA:

The flat-headed cat is reddish-brown on top of the head, dark roan brown on the body with a mottled white underbelly. Its face is lighter in colour than the body, and its muzzle and chin are white. Two prominent buff whitish streaks run on either side of the nose between the eyes. It has rounded ears, and its eyes are set close together, giving it improved stereoscopic vision. The teeth together with well-muscled jaws facilitate catching and retaining slippery prey. The legs are fairly short, and the sheaths of its retractile claws are reduced in size so that about two-thirds are protruding. The depressed skull extends along the nose to the extremity of the muzzle, the sides of which are laterally distended. The head itself is lengthened and cylindrical, and the teeth are unusually long. The body is slender, and the extremities are delicate and lengthened. The anterior upper premolars are larger and sharper relative to other cats. The interdigital webs on its paws help the cat gain better traction in muddy environments and water.