It's a cougar, mountain lion, or a catamount. It's not a member of the genus panthera. It's not even really a subspecies of cougar, it's just a name has more to do with people than the genetics of the animal.

Yup. They're the state animal and there's a hockey team named after them. Though technically, "panther" is actually just a generic term for big cats in the family pantera. These guys are actually a type of puma.