Talk:Pardofelis

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etymology of "pardofelis"[edit]

I removed the following sentence in the context of Severtzov's giving the name to the genus:

He chose the name after a Latin term "pardo felis" meaning "darkly-colored cat" because of the thick black markings on this species, although not all pardofelids are as dark as this founding species.^{[citation needed]}

Severtzov did not explain anywhere why he used the word "pardofelis" or any other generic names that he invented and used for the first time. This article is not the proper place for such kind of speculations. -- BhagyaMani (talk) 14:45, 14 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The only meaning my Latin dictionary gives for "pardus" is "male panther". Palmer (1904) says the name comes from pardus "pard" + felis "cat" and refers to its spots. Ucucha (talk) 14:51, 14 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

A few points[edit]

First, thank you for your help making this article interesting and useful to readers. Second, saying a cat belongs to a separate genus is to say that it is substantially different from all other types of cat. The difference is only in how we speak to the reader. Third, thanks for getting to the bottom of the Latin, although a citation is still needed. Fourth, it's not just taxonomy anymore. We are now getting into how the branches on the tree of life split, sort of cladistics, hence "...and Relationships." The part about the sevals and such, for example. Finally, thanks again for improving this article. Chrisrus (talk) 16:41, 14 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]