The oncilla is distributed from Costa Rica (north) to southern Brazil and NE Argentina (30 degrees south) (Oliveira et al. 2008). There are records from the Amazon basin, but the distribution could be discontinuous and patchy, and the species extremely rare (Oliveira 2004). The species is absent from the Colombian Llanos and the Paraguayan Chaco (Payan et al. 2007). It has been recorded from Costa Rica and northern Panama, but not from the remainder of the Darien Peninsula connecting Central America to South America. Although the species has been collected as high as 4,800 m (Cuervo et al. 1986), this is likely an outlier, as there are very few records at or slightly above 3,000 m (T. Oliveira, per. comm.).