New wild cat species discovered - with only one known living member

A spotted cat from the forests of Bolivia has been confirmed as a new species.

The small feline, about the size of a domestic moggy, went under the radar because it was confused with other wild cats that share similar spots and stripes.

But DNA studies show the cat is actually in a class of its own, highlighting how much remains unknown about some of the world's most elusive mammals.

Scientists hope the discovery will draw attention to the conservation of tiger cats, a group of small wild cats found in South and Central America that receives far less public attention than their larger cousins like lions, leopards and tigers.

Tiger cats are small, spotted wild cats found across Central and South America, from Costa Rica to Bolivia and Argentina.

They look remarkably similar and even experts can struggle to tell them apart.

"It's an amazing result that we have a new species for the world, which is the Leopardus tilcayo ," said Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz of Universidad Mayor de San Andres in La Paz, Bolivia.

"It's amazing that there are still new species waiting to be discovered: we don't have to go to a volcano, an island, or deep into the sea."