Melanistic (black) bobcats have been reported. A stuffed melanistic bobcat is on display at Totemin Zoo in Wilmington North Carolina, albeit in bad repair. It apparently dates from the 1970s and was collected in Florida. Melanistic bobcats have not been reported outside of Florida. Some details was lost during taxidermy and http://www.bigcats.org report that the faint markings do not follow the common bobcat pattern, the ear furnishings are different and there is no "beard" or ruff. This does not rule out melanism, nor does it rule out hybridisation with domestic cats.

According to Fred A Ulmer Jr in "Melanism in the Felidae, with Special Reference to the Genus Lynx" (Journal of Mammalogy, Vol. 22, No. 3 (Aug., 1941), pp. 285-288), on April 18, 1939, Vincent Nelson and J Townsend Sackett live-trapped a melanistic male Florida bobcat (Lynx rufus floridianus) in Martin County, Florida, 14 miles above the mouth of the Loxahatchee River. An experienced trapper, Martin had caught many bobcats, but had not previously seen a black one. The black bobcat was secured by Sackett for the Zoological Society of Philadelphia and exhibited at their Zoological Gardens from late April through to August 3, apparently dying of feline infectious enteritis (described as distemper by Ulmer). Its skin and skull went to the collection of the Acadamy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (specimen no 19842) where Ulmer later examined the skin. In January 1940, Nelson live-trapped a melanistic female bobcat in the same region. This was caught about 2 miles from the first specimen, in swampy jungle lose to the confluence of Kitachen Creek and Loxahatchee (or Jupiter) River. Dr Raymond L Ditmars obtained the melanistic female for the Bronx Park Zoo.

Ulmer examined the skin of the Philadelphia specimen and described it as follows (it should be noted that melanistic fur frequently pales to dark brown during the preservation process): "The Academy specimen, upon close examination, is far from black. The most heavily pigmented portions are the crown and dorsal area. In most lights these appear black, but at certain angles the dorsal strip has a decidedly mahogany tint. The mahogany coloring becomes lighter and richer on the sides. The underparts are lightest, being almost ferruginous in color. The chin, throat and cheeks are dark chocolate-brown, but the facial stripes can be clearly seen. The limbs are dark mahogany. In certain lights the typical spot pattern of the Florida bobcat can be distinctly seen on the sides, underparts and limbs. The Bronx Park animal appears darker and the spots are not visible, although the poor light in the quarantine cage may have been the reason. Numerous white hairs are scattered through the dark dorsal strip in both animals. The normal bobcat's dorsal area is similarly sprinkled with white hairs, but in the light, grizzled pelage they are scarcely noticeable. A small patch of white hair occurs in the inguinal region of the Academy's specimen. The Bronx individual has a larger white inguinal patch."

Their whiskers were slightly darker than those of normally pigmented bobcats, but their facial ruffs were short and inconspicuous which, along with their sleek black fur, made them resemble large domestic cats (this absence of ruffs, along with the colouration and white patches is also suggestive of introgressive hybridisation with domestic cats in the same way that black Kellas cats have arisen from hybridisation between Scottish wildcats and domestic cats carrying the non-agouti gene)

There have long been accounts of Black Florida Panthers the size of a Labrador dog. One such cat was captured in 2007 in Martin County, Florida and researchers at the Busch Wildlife Sanctuary were able to identify it. The "Black Panther" trapped in a back garden where it had killed domestic poultry turned out to be a 16 lb melanistic bobcat (black all over apart from a white spot on the belly). There have 13 previous confirmed (killed, captured or photographed) melanistic bobcats in south and south central Florida since 1939; most having been in the region of the Loxahatchee River and St Lucie Canal. The 2007 case was in the environs of the St Lucie Canal. After running DNA tests to ensure the animal is fully and officially documented, the black bobcat will be released back into the wild. It was about 2 years old and male, making it likely the recessive melanism gene will be perpetuated the local bobcat population.

Bobcats are normally tawny/rufous with black markings though blue-grey bobcats and red bobcats have also have been reported. There have been increasing numbers of reports of albino bobcats.

ALBINO BOBCAT SIGHTED SOUTH OF MARQUETTE The Escanaba Daily Press, 22nd October 1954
Gwinn - Dr. Edward F. Kronschnabel, Gwinn physician and an active member of the Forsyth Township Sportsmen's Club, reports what must have been an eerie sight. On two occasions while driving at night on County Road 553 between County Road 480 and the Marquette city limits, he has seen an albino bobcat. The area is a lonely, rugged stretch of country - suitable habitat for wildcats, even albino wildcats.

Although this report referred to an albino bobcat, it appears to have been an unusually pale bobcat (cream/isabelline) rather than pure white.

AREA HUNTERS BAG ALBINO BOBCAT (The Times Recorder, 31st January, 1960). If the fortunes of some of Muskingum County's racoon hunters so far this year are any indication of what's in store for us the balance of 1960, then we can look forward to one cock-eyed year. Recently we had a story about two coon hunters killing an albino racoon. This past week we picked up a story of how Shell and Willard Crozier, while coon hunting, killed an albino bob-tail cat. (At least I'll say it was a bob-tail until proven wrong.) It's often that racoon hunters tangle with "wild cats." From the size and ferocity of these animals, they are often thought to be the real McCoy, wildcats. Until the Croziers brought in the cat they killed, all that I have seen have been domestic cats gone wild. But the beast Shell and Willard brought in was like no domestic cat I've ever seen. They had skinned the animal, expecting to have the hide tanned, when I saw it. I never have, and I hope I never do bump into a bob-tail cat at night in the woods. In fact the only ones I ve seen alive have been in zoos. Except for the color, this cat I saw had all the ear marks of a bob-tail.

The pair were coon hunting one night early last week when their hounds, after a rather short chase, let it be known that they had an animal treed. Willard brought it down with a single shot from his 22 rifle. They, in all their years of hunting, had never seen anything like what fell out of that tree. The animal shaded from a light buff color down the middle of its back to a cream-white on its belly. It had exceptionally long legs, standing 15 inches high. Its ears were long and pointed, and it had long, mighty mean looking fangs. Instead of a tail like a tabby cat, this beast had a tail only three or four inches long, a couple inches wide, and fiat rather than round. Its whiskers were white and as stiff as wire. The animal weighed 16 pounds. Even after being skinned, that animal's mug had a mighty mean look. You might ask why a bob cat would run from a pair of hounds. I think the answer to that would be that the "cat" was so full of rabbit that it just wasn't in fighting condition. When it was skinned it was found to have a tummy full of rabbit fur as well as other indications of a recent bunny kill.

The animal was killed in the Dresden vicinity. There may be more of the same breed roaming about those wooded hills, for Willard said he had seen tracks that looked like they had been made by cats, cats about like the one he and his dad killed. Over the years we've heard rumors of wildcats having been seen in this area. We've investigated most of these and, up until this time they've turned out to be domestic cats gone wild. As often happens, I may be mistaken in claiming this to be a bob cat. But until someone who really knows his wild animals tells me differently, I'll still say it was a bob cat.

ALBINO BOBCAT. The Anniston Star, 19th November 1964
Bobcats are still in the news, too. Last Sunday's "bag" noted a white one killed near White Plains. Well, now there is an albino bobcat who won't be seen any more in the woods. I'm told H. J. Smith of Anniston shot the white bobcat last week while he was hunting near Wedowee in Randolph County. The only non-white spot was reportedly a black ring near the tip of its tail.

IT WALKS ON 4 LEGS AND ISN'T HUMAN Daily Press, Newport Virginia, 13th July 1984

Gloucester - Residents of Woods Cross Roads do not really believe a 60-pound albino bobcat is prowling their neighborhood. But they have a trap set, just in case. For several weeks, reports of a large, marauding feline have circulated among neighbors in the lightly populated wooded area near the end of Route 612, close to Route 17.

"There’s something out there, but I don’t know what it is," said Margaret Coin, who considers it her duty as co-captain of the local Neighborhood Watch program to investigate. Descriptions vary. Ms. Coin said that a construction worker described it as weighing in at 60 to 80 pounds, "snow-white, with big pointy ears and a large head," while others described it simply as an unusually large, white cat. Small housecats have been reported missing in recent weeks, said neighbor Nancy Milby.

David J. Gordinier of Woods Cross Roads reported something attacked his Weimaraner dog, leaving a deep gash. Veterinarian Gilbert Birdsall of the Gloucester Veterinary Hospital Ltd., where Gordinier's dog was treated, said the wound could have occurred in a fight with any normal-size cat or dog. A likely suspect in the attack, Birdsall said, is a large Persian cat that is known to live wild in Woods Cross Roads, eating out of garbage cans. Bobcats occasionally are spotted in sparsely populated, wooded areas on the Middle Peninsula, Birdsall said. The average bobcat weighs 25 to 30 pounds, he said.

But Dudley Saunders, who lives in the area, said a dog treed a large animal near his yard one night three weeks ago. He shined a flashlight 30 feet up the tree, he said, and saw "a bobcat, a pretty good-size one, with white markings all over it. It's funny how stories will travel," Saunders said. "By now it must have gotten bigger. A hundred pounds or so?"

On Thursday, several residents contacted Bonnie Jones, director of the Gloucester-Mathews Humane Society, who persuaded Mathews County animal warden Al Mellen to lend them a box trap used for capturing large dogs. When the animal lifts the food bait off a plate, the box falls and imprisons him. Neighbors have agreed to check the trap several times a day. Mellen is skeptical. "I loaned a lady a trap to catch something. I don’t know what it was all about. That’s all I want to say," he said.

"We're all kind of dubious, I suppose," Ms. Coin said. "I hope the whole thing gets resolved and we catch something – if there's anything there."

There have been pure black specimens reported of the Clouded Leopard. In spring 1946, the skin and lower jaw of a black Clouded Leopard were obtained in Borneo. Another black Clouded Leopard was reported on Mount Matang (undated, but possibly around the same time). Six reports of melanistic Clouded Leopards were made in 1982 in Sabah. In 1986, there were three sightings of black Clouded Leopards in Sarawak, plus one sighting from Sabah. There have been no live captures of melanistic Clouded Leopards or recent skins (for DNA testing) to prove this issue beyond doubt.