Resumen
Reportamos el primer registro confirmado de melanismo en un gato montés africano, Felis lybica Forster, 1780. El individuo melánico fue observado y fotografiado durante un recorrido nocturno aproximadamente a las 22:00 horas del 17 de Julio de 2025 en el Parque Nacional Tarangire, Manyara, Tanzania. Este registro eleva el número total de especies de félidos documentadas con casos de melanismo a 16 de las 42 especies existentes.
Citas
Ambastha C, Sood A, Steinweg S. 2017. The Black Panther, from politics to popular culture. JAMA Dermatology. 153(11): 1113-1113. doi:10.1001/jamadermatol.2017.3785
Angwin D. 1975. Melanistic serval cats, melanistic wild cat and bongo. Bulletin of the East Africa Natural History Society.
Burgin CJ, Colella JP, Kahn PL, Upham NS. 2018. How many species of mammals are there?. Journal of Mammalogy, 99(1), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyx147
Cáceres-Martínez, CH, Zamora-Abrego, JG, González-Maya, JF. 2023. Noteworthy record of melanism in Leopardus tigrinus from El Cocuy National Natural Park, Colombia. Therya Notes, 4(2), 84–88. https://doi.org/10.12933/therya_notes-23-111
Caro T, Mallarino R. 2020. Coloration in mammals. Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 35(4): 357-366. 10.1016/j.tree.2019.12.008
Craft ME, Vial F, Miguel E, Cleaveland S, Ferdinands A, Packer C. 2017. Interactions between domestic and wild carnivores around the greater Serengeti ecosystem. Animal Conservation. 20(2): 193-204. https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.12305
Dittrich L. 1979. Die vererbung des melanismus beim jaguar (Panthera onca). Zoologische Garten. 49: 417-428.
Eizirik E, Yuhki N, Johnson WE, Menotti-Raymond M, Hannah SS, O'Brien SJ. 2003. Molecular genetics and evolution of melanism in the cat family. Current Biology. 13(5): 448-453.
Foley C, Hassanali M, Baran P, Foley L, Lobora A, Durant S. 2018. An assessment of mammal diversity and abundance in Makame Wildlife Management Area (WMA) by camera trap survey. Wildlife Conservation Society, Arusha. Accessed on 15 September 2025.
Forster G. 1780. Herrn von Buffon’s Naturgeschichte der vierfüssigen Thiere. Mit vermehrungen, aus dem französischen übersetzt, vol. 6. J. Pauli, Berlin.
González-Maya JF, Arias-Alzate A, Granados-Peña R, Gómez-Hoyos DA, Schipper J, Manjarrés-Morón M, Manjarrés Pinzón G. 2018. Margays also hide their spots: first records of melanistic Leopardus wiedii from Colombia and Costa Rica. Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad. 89(2): 587-589. https://doi.org/10.22201/ib.20078706e.2018.2.1921
Kiffner C, Bond ML, Lee DE. (Eds.). 2022. Tarangire: human-wildlife coexistence in a fragmented ecosystem. Berlin, Germany: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030- 93604-4
Kitchener AC, Breitenmoser-Würsten C, Eizirik E, Gentry A, Werdelin L, Wilting A, Yamaguchi N. Abramov, AV, Christiansen P, Driscoll C, Duckworth JW, Johnson W, Luo S-J, Meijaard E, O’Donoghue P, Sanderson J, Seymour K, Bruford M, Groves C, Hoffmann M, Nowell K, Timmons Z, Tobe S. 2017. A revised taxonomy of the Felidae: The final report of the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group. Cat News. 11: 1−80.
Le Roux JJ, Foxcroft LC, Herbst M, MacFadyen S. 2015. Genetic analysis shows low levels of hybridization between African wildcats (Felis silvestris lybica) and domestic cats (F. s. catus) in South Africa. Ecology and Evolution. 5(2): 288-299. 10.1002/ece3.1275
Linnaeus C. 1758. Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima reformata. 10th ed. Vol. I (Regnum animale); vol. II (Regnum vegetabile). Laurentii Salvii, Holmiæ Stockholm, Sweden.
Mazim FD, Wagner PGC, May-Junior JA, Stefanello S, Kuester P, Spiazzi DA, Oliveira TGD. 2023. First record of melanism in the critically endangered Pampa cat (Leopardus munoai), an endemic species of the Pampa grasslands. Biota Neotropica. 23: e20221456. https://doi.org/10.1590/1676-0611-BN-2022-1456
Nascimento FOD, Cheng J, Feijó A. 2021. Taxonomic revision of the pampas cat Leopardus colocola complex (Carnivora: Felidae): an integrative approach. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 191(2): 575-611. https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa043
Samson A, Chandrasekar D, Moinudheen N, Princy JL, Bah JB. 2024. A melanistic Jungle Cat (Felis chaus) in the great rann of kutch, Gujarat, India. Mammalogy Notes. 10(1): 367-367. https://doi.org/10.47603/mano.v10n1.367
Schneider A, David VA, Johnson WE, O'Brien SJ, Barsh GS, Menotti-Raymond M, Eizirik E. 2012. How the leopard hides its spots: ASIP mutations and melanism in wild cats. PloS One. 7(12): e50386. 10.1371/journal.pone.0050386
Schreber JCD. 1777. Die Säugthiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur mit Beschreibungen. Wolfgang Walther, Erlangen, Germany.
Sundevall CJ. 1846. Nya Mammalia fran Sydafrika. O ¨fversigt af Kongliga Vetenskaps-Akade miens Forhandlingar. 3: 118–211.
Ximénez A. 1961. Nuevo subspecie del gato pajero en el Uruguay. Comunicaciones Zoologicas del Museo de Historia Natural de Montevideo. 5: 1-5.


