Flat-headed Cat

Open encyclopedia reference

The flat-headed cat (Prionailurus planiceps) is a small wild cat with short reddish-brown fur. Its head is elongated, and its ears are rounded. Its slender body is 41 to 50 cm (16 to 20 in) long with a tail of 13 to 15 cm (5.1 to 5.9 in), and it weighs 1.5 to 2.5 kg (3.3 to 5.5 lb).

The flat-headed cat was first described in 1827 based on a zoological specimen collected in Sumatra. It is also native to the Thai-Malay Peninsula and Borneo, and inhabits wetlands like mixed freshwater swamp forests, peat swamp forests and lowland freshwater swamps near rivers and coastal areas. It preys foremost on fish, frogs and crustaceans.

The flat-headed cat is threatened by habitat destruction due to conversion for settlements, agriculture and oil palm plantations. It has been listed on the IUCN Red List as Endangered since 2008.

Wikipedia contributors, Flat-headed cat; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T04:27:56.541265+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Prionailurus planiceps (Vigors & Horsfield, 1827)

Name authority

(Vigors & Horsfield, 1827)

Common name

Flat-headed Cat

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Carnivora

Family

Felidae

Genus

Prionailurus

Extinction status

Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
9. subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
10. infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
11. orderCarnivora Bowdich, 1821
12. suborderFeliformia Kretzoi, 1945
13. familyFelidae Fischer de Waldheim, 1817
14. subfamilyFelinae Fischer de Waldheim, 1817
15. genusPrionailurus Severtzov, 1858
16. speciesPrionailurus planiceps (Vigors & Horsfield, 1827)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Prionailurus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 41 records assigned to Felidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=621873 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:6W932. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.