Range-wide phylogeographic analyses of leopards (Panthera pardus) reveal African mito-nuclear discordance and previously unrecognized diversity

Leopards, as the most widely distributed felids, remain phylogeographically understudied due to sampling gaps across its vast range distribution. In this study, we assembled the most comprehensive genomic dataset to date, spanning all the subspecies (n=198 from archival tissues, field collections and published data). Mitochondrial genomes resolve seven Asian subspecies plus three African haplogroups (West, Central and South), while nuclear genomes reveal admixtures with weak structure (FST