[2] Felis temmincki was the scientific name used in 1827 by Nicholas Aylward Vigors and Thomas Horsfield who described a reddish brown cat skin from Sumatra.

[3] Felis moormensis proposed by Brian Houghton Hodgson in 1831 was a young male cat caught alive by Moormi hunters in Nepal.

[4] Felis tristis proposed by Alphonse Milne-Edwards in 1872 was a spotted Asian golden cat from China.

[8][9] Analysis of their mitochondrial DNA indicates a genetic divergence from their common ancestor between 8.47 to 0.41 million years ago.

[17] A spotted Asian golden cat with large rosettes on shoulders, flanks and hips was described for the first time based on a specimen from China in 1872.

[20][21][16] The Asian golden cat ranges from eastern Nepal, northeastern India and Bhutan to Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, southern China, Malaysia and Sumatra.

It prefers forest habitats interspersed with rocky areas and inhabits dry deciduous, subtropical evergreen and tropical rainforests.

[22] Since an individual was caught alive in 1831 in Nepal, the country was thought to be the westernmost part of the Asian golden cat's range.

[29] In Laos, it also inhabits bamboo regrowth, scrub and degraded forest from the Mekong plains to at least 1,100 m (3,600 ft).

[32] Results of surveys in Sumatra indicated that it is more common than sympatric small cats, suggesting that it is more numerous than thought before the turn of the 21st century.

It has been recorded in Kerinci Seblat Gunung Leuser and Bukit Barisan Selatan National Parks.

They hunt birds, hares, rodents, reptiles, and small ungulates such as muntjacs and young sambar deer.

Females come into estrus every 39 days, at which time they leave markings and seek contact with the male by adopting receptive postures.

[40] The Asian golden cat inhabits some of the fastest developing countries in the world, where it is increasingly threatened by habitat destruction following deforestation, along with a declining ungulate prey base.

Hunting is prohibited in Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam.

[2] In some regions of Thailand, the Asian golden cat is called Seua fai (Thai: เสือไฟ; "fire tiger").