Felis attica is an
extinct felid of the subfamily
Felinae. Around 12 million years ago, the genus
Felis appeared and eventually gave rise to many of the modern small cats.
Felis attica was a small, lynx-like cat, and was one of the ancestors of the first modern
Felis species, such as
F. lunensis (Martelli's cat), which appeared around 2.5 million years ago during the
Pliocene epoch. Fossil specimens of
F. attica have been recovered in western
Eurasia. Fossil evidence suggests that
F. attica was among the smallest of the
Miocene Felinae, about the size of the modern
bobcat (
Lynx rufus), but with a longer profile. It was made the type species of a separate genus
Pristifelis by Salesa
et al. (2012).