Serval along with the caracal and the African golden cat, forms one of the eight lineages of Felidae. According to a 2006 genetic study, the "Caracal" lineage came into existence 8.5 mya, and the ancestor of this lineage arrived in Africa 8.5–5.6 mya. The phylogenetic relationships of the serval are as follows: The name "Leptailurus" may have been constructed from the medieval Greek λεπταλέος or λεπτός meaning "fine, delicate". The name "serval" could have been derived from the Medieval Latin words "Lupus cervalis" ("deer-like wolf") or from its Portuguese equivalent "lobo-cerval" (referring to the Iberian lynx). The first recorded use of
Serval Project Serval Project The Serval Project (often referred to as Serval) is a project financed by the Shuttleworth Foundation, as well as various other organisations and accepting individual donations. It is headquartered at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia. The project aims to develop technology that can be used to create direct connections between cellular phones through their Wi-Fi interfaces, without the need of a mobile phone operator. The technology allows for live voice calls whenever the mesh is able to find a route between the participants. Text messages and other data can be communicated using a store and forward system called