Felis
| Felis Temporal range: Piacenzian – Holocene | |
|---|---|
| The six wild Felis species; from top-left, clockwise: European wildcat (F. silvestris), jungle cat (F. chaus), African wildcat (F. lybica), black-footed cat (F. nigripes), sand cat (F. margarita), Chinese mountain cat (F. bieti) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Suborder: | Feliformia |
| Family: | Felidae |
| Subfamily: | Felinae |
| Genus: | Felis Linnaeus, 1758 |
| Type species | |
| Felis catus | |
| Species | |
|
See § Taxonomy | |
| Native Felis range | |
Felis is a genus of small and medium-sized cat species native to most of Africa and south of 60° latitude in Europe and Asia to Indochina. The genus includes the domestic cat. The smallest of the seven Felis species is the black-footed cat with a head and body length from 38 to 42 cm (15 to 17 in). The largest is the jungle cat with a head and body length from 62 to 76 cm (24 to 30 in).
Genetic studies indicate that the Felinae genera Felis, Otocolobus and Prionailurus diverged from a Eurasian progenitor of the Felidae about 6.2 million years ago, and that Felis species split off 3.04 to 0.99 million years ago.