Order Artiodactyla
Author
Wilson, Don E.
Author
Reeder, DeeAnn
text
2005
The Johns Hopkins University Press
Baltimore
Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 1
637
722
book chapter
0-8018-8221-4
10.5281/zenodo.7316519
Alcelaphus buselaphus
(Pallas 1766)
[Antilope] buselaphus
Pallas 1766
,
Misc. Zool.: 7
.
Type Locality:
No locality cited but the name is based on "Le bubale" of Buffon, "en Barbarie & dans toutes les parties septentrionales de l'Afrique", and on other sources. Restricted to Barbary by designation of the "Vache de Barbarie" of Perrault as the
lectotype
(
Ruxton and Schwarz, 1929:575
). Further restricted to
Morocco
(Lydekker, 1914
a
:5)
.
Vernacular Names:
Hartebeest
.
Subspecies:
:
Subspecies
Alcelaphus buselaphus
subsp.
buselaphus
Pallas 1766
Subspecies
Alcelaphus buselaphus
subsp.
cokii
Günther 1884
Subspecies
Alcelaphus buselaphus
subsp.
lelwel
Heuglin 1877
Subspecies
Alcelaphus buselaphus
subsp.
major
Blyth 1869
Subspecies
Alcelaphus buselaphus
subsp.
swaynei
P. L. Sclater 1892
Subspecies
Alcelaphus buselaphus
subsp.
tora
Gray 1873
Distribution:
In N Africa, now extinct but within historic times occurred in N
Algeria
,
Libya
(marginally), N
Morocco
, and
Tunisia
. In West and Equatorial Africa in
Benin
,
Burkina Faso
,
Cameroon
,
Central African Republic
, S
Chad
, Côte d’Ivoire, N Dem. Rep.
Congo
, N
Eritrea
,
Ethiopia
(outside highlands),
Gambia
(extinct or vagrant),
Ghana
, E
Guinea
Bissau
,
Guinea
, S
Kenya
, S
Mali
,
Niger
(marginal in
SW
),
Nigeria
,
Senegal
, NW
Somalia
(extinct), S
Sudan
, N
Tanzania
,
Togo
, and
Uganda
. No authentic records from
Sierra Leone
(
Grubb et al., 1998
).
Conservation:
U.S.
ESA
– Endangered as
A. b.
swaynei
and
A. b. tora
;
IUCN
– Extinct as
A. b.
buselaphus, Endangered
as
A. b.
swaynei
and
A. b. tora
, otherwise Lower Risk (cd).
Discussion:
More than one taxon is included among the
syntypes
of
Antilope buselaphus
Pallas, 1766
, hence the designation of a
lectotype
was necessary. Six species recognised by earlier authors (
buselaphus
, cokii, lelwel, major,
swaynei
, tora
) were all assigned to
A. buselaphus
once hybridization between some of them was recognised (
Ruxton and Schwarz, 1929
);
caama
later included (Ellerman et al., 1953:202);
lichtensteinii
has also been included (
Haltenorth, 1963:102
;
Kingdon, 1997:429
) but not by most workers. The species can be partitioned into nominate
buselaphus
division (including also
major
),
lelwel
division, and
tora
division (including also
cokii
and
swaynei
) on the basis of skull morphology, but cytochrome
b
and D-loop sequence data (Flagstad et al., 2000) suggest a close affinity between
lelwel
and
tora
divisions. Synonymy modified from
Ansell (1972:53)
.