Order Carnivora 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 1 532 628 book chapter 0-8018-8221-4 10.5281/zenodo.7316519 Ursus maritimus Phipps 1774 Ursus maritimus Phipps 1774 , Voyage Towards North Pole: 185 . Type Locality: "on the main land of Spitsbergen" [ Norway ]. Vernacular Names: Polar Bear . Synonyms: Ursus eogroenlandicus (Knottnerus-Meyer 1908) ; Ursus groenlandicus (Birula 1932) ; Ursus jenaensis (Knottnerus-Mayer 1908) ; Ursus labradorensis (Knottnerus-Meyer 1908) ; Ursus marinus Pallas 1776 ; Ursus polaris Shaw 1792 . Distribution: Canada , Greenland , USA ( Alaska ), Russia . Circumpolar in the Arctic, S limits determined by ice pack. Conservation: CITES – Appendix II; IUCN – Lower Risk (cd). Discussion: Revised by Wilson (1976) . Reviewed by DeMaster and Stirling (1981) . Placed in subgenus Thalarctos by Gromov and Baranova (1981) . U. maritimus is considered the sister species to arctos ( Goldman et al., 1989 ; Shields and Kocher, 1991 ). Synonyms allocated according to Ellerman and Morrison-Scott (1951) and Hall (1981) .