Was the Last Common Ancestor of all Felidae a large or a small cat?

[Otto Kretschmer]

Did large cats get larger over the course of evolution or did the small cats get smaller?

[iNow]

Yes

[Moontanman]

22 minutes ago, Otto Kretschmer said:

Did large cats get larger over the course of evolution or did the small cats get smaller?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudaelurus

or if you prefer a video description

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNrt90MJL08

Cats started out from a small animal that resembled this

 

[sethoflagos]

1 hour ago, Otto Kretschmer said:

Did large cats get larger over the course of evolution or did the small cats get smaller?

Why do you omit the cases of large cats getting smaller or small cats getting larger, both of which are supported by the fossil record?

Edited March 3 by sethoflagos
English

[Otto Kretschmer]

42 minutes ago, sethoflagos said:

Why do you omit the cases of large cats getting smaller or small cats getting larger, both of which are supported by the fossil record?

I am not that well versed in the evolution of cats.

[sethoflagos]

17 hours ago, Otto Kretschmer said:

I am not that well versed in the evolution of cats.

Evolution in cat size tends to be governed by niche partitioning: cat species don't thrive when in direct competition with other carnivores of similar size.

In much of southern Amazonia there are six 'common' cat species. In size order: jaguar, puma, ocelot, jaguarundi, margay and oncilla. They each avoid direct competition by feeding on different prey appropriate to their size.

However, the jaguarundi and similar sized margay avoid competition by one being diurnal, the other nocturnal.

If they'd diverged in size instead, they'd encroach on niches already occupied by ocelot and oncilla.

So the whole cat guild can be viewed as coevolving in such a way so as not to step on each other's toes.