 Felidae (source code)

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= Felidae
{c}

<Felidae> is the <taxonomic family> of <mammals> that includes the domestic <cat> and its wild relatives, within the order <Carnivora>. It is broader than the <taxonomic genus> <Felis>: the <lion> and <tiger> belong to <Panthera>, another <taxonomic genus> within <Felidae>.<Living cat species by the IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group>[Official catalogue: Panthera and Domestic Cat lineages, scientific names and genus assignments]{ref}

The distinction is easy to see by tracing two branches. A domestic <cat> belongs to <Felis> and then <Felidae>; a <lion> belongs to <Panthera> and then <Felidae>. Sharing a <taxonomic family> does not make them the same <species> or give them identical ecology. Conversely, being a <stray cat> or <feral cat> does not move a domestic <cat> outside <Felidae>: those categories concern its relationship with humans.

Classification is a testable account of relationships. The IUCN Cat Specialist Group's 2017 revision combined evidence from morphology, molecular studies and geographical variation, and recorded uncertainty where evidence or expert judgments differed. Such work explains why names below the family level can change as evidence improves, without making the distinction between <Felidae> and <Felis> arbitrary.<Classification of living cat species by the IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group>[Classification of living species: scope, evidence categories and uncertainty in the 2017 revision]{ref}

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