= European wildcat
{c}
The <European wildcat>, Felis silvestris, is a wild <species> of <Felis> associated with European and neighboring forest populations. In the Cat Specialist Group's classification it is distinct from the <Afro-Asiatic wildcat> and the domestic <cat>. The common word wildcat in older literature can refer to a broader collection of regional lineages, so the scientific name must be read in context.<European wildcat species account by the IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group>[Taxonomy and distribution]{ref}
<Hybridization> with domestic <cats> complicates identification. Nuclear <genetic markers> and <DNA> inherited through <mitochondria> need not tell exactly the same ancestry story. The 2007 wildcat comparison explicitly marked individuals whose nuclear clustering and mitochondrial lineage differed. That makes a single coat pattern or one inherited marker an incomplete account of ancestry.<The Near Eastern origin of cat domestication by Carlos A. Driscoll and others>[Figures1–2: regional clades and cytonuclear-discordant individuals]{ref}
For an illustrative comparison, two striped <cats> could have similar appearance while differing in their inherited marker combinations. Appearance remains useful for observing animals, but testing population ancestry requires a stated set of markers, reference samples and classification criteria. Geographic location alone is also insufficient to turn every free-living domestic <cat> into a <European wildcat>.
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