Named for the “moon” on its forehead, and its blue-black coloration, Mycospondylus mesanyctus—the Mushroom-Spined Midnight cat—is commonly known as the “Midnight Cat”, the “Witch-Cat”, or the “Cat of the Witching Hour”. Mycospondylus mesanyctus is a tiny carnivorous mammal that belongs to the family Felidae. Standing at a height of between 15 and 20cm, with a length of 25-30cm (excluding its tails) and weighing about 1.5 kg, it is one of the world’s smallest wild cats. Although it has similar facial features to the leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis), and although for the most part is has all the “typical” feline attributes, the midnight cat is most certainly a creature that is unique in its own right. A digitigrade quadruped with longer paws than most other felines, its body is a blue-black color with a pure black face. It has four thin, almost prehensile, tails that frame its main tail, and mushroom-like growths that line the top of its body from its head to the base of its tails. Its ears and eyes are large, which give Mycospondylus excellent vision and hearing respectively, and, most curious of all, it has hairless circle in the center of its forehead: this is its “moon”, a patch of specialized, bioluminescent skin cells that the midnight cat uses to lure in its prey.
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