Fig 1.
Camera-trap photographs of Southern tigrinas.
(A) A melanistic individual without white ear marks; (B) A non-melanistic individual showing the white marks on the posterior surface of the ears.
Fig 2.
A) Distribution of melanism, white marks and ecological variables across the phylogeny of the Felidae. B) Posterior distribution of r-values for the relationship between the presence of white marks on the ears (black quadrat) and preference for closed environments (black quadrat). C) Posterior distribution of r-values for the relationship between the presence of melanism (black quadrat) and arrhythmic activity (white quadrat). D) Posterior distribution of r-values for the relationship between the presence of melanism (black quadrat) and white marks on the ears (black quadrat). E) Posterior distribution of r-values for the relationship between the presence of melanism (black quadrat) and closed environments (black quadrat). HDI = Highest Density Intervals.
Fig 3.
Most likely evolutionary pathways and transition rates between combinations of species traits and melanism for 39 cat species.
A) The independent evolution of white marks on the back of ears (or their absence), circadian activity (arrhythmic or nocturnal) and melanism. B) The independent evolution of white marks on the back of ears (or their absence), environment preference (open or closed habitat) and melanism. Solid lines and arrows are proportional to the transition rates between possible states (wider lines indicate higher rates). Dashed lines indicate nearly null rates and missing lines indicate that the transition was not tested because of unobserved trait combinations. The size of each circle is proportional to the persistence time in that state, where persistence time is defined as the inverse of the sum of the transition rates away from a given character state (see Figure 2 in [45]).