Fossil of 'palm-sized miniature cat' discovered in Chinese cave

A new species of cat, Prionailurus kurteni, was discovered in a cave in Hualong Cave, Anhui Province, eastern China. It was thought to have been small enough to fit in the palm of your hand.

Prionailurus kurteni (Felidae, Carnivora), a new species of small felid from the late Middle Pleistocene fossil hominin locality of Hualongdong, southern China

World's tiniest cat was a palm-sized tiddler that lived in China 300,000 years ago | Live Science

China Focus: World's smallest cat fossil found at ancient human site in China-Xinhua
https://english.news.cn/20241227/dcd28a22d08f47099997b1272405d9a2/c.html

China's ancient tiny cat fossil could belong to the smallest feline ever found | South China Morning Post
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3293715/chinas-ancient-tiny-cat-fossil-could-belong-smallest-feline-ever-found

The Hualong Cave was discovered in late 1988, and excavation work has been ongoing since 2013. To date, over 400 stone ruins, numerous bone fragments showing signs of artificial cutting, over 80 vertebrate fossils, and approximately 20 ancient human fossils have been found.

The newly discovered Prionailurus kurteni is a relative of the Bengal leopard cat. The Bengal leopard cat has an average body length of 70 cm and an average weight of about 2 kg, but Prionailurus kurteni is smaller, with a body length of about 50 cm and a weight of about 1 kg.

The ancestors of the Bengal cat often lived in forests, leaving few prehistoric specimens, but the research team succeeded in discovering cat fossils in the cave. The team said, 'Cat fossils are a common component of Quaternary cave deposits, but the discovery of such a small cat fossil is surprising.'

In addition, there are no traces of dismemberment on the fossils of Prionailurus kurteni, so it is unclear whether people who lived in the caves used cats as food.

On the other hand, food stored by cave dwellers may have provided food for the rodents targeted by Prionailurus kurteni and Prionailurus kurteni.