Arabian gazelle

The Arabian gazelle (Gazella arabica) is a species of gazelle from the Arabian Peninsula.

Arabian gazelle
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Bovidae
Subfamily: Antilopinae
Genus: Gazella
Species:
G. arabica
Binomial name
Gazella arabica
Synonyms
  • Gazella gazella acaciae
    (Mendelssohn, Groves & Shalmon, 1997)
  • Gazella gazella cora
    (Hamilton Smith, 1827)
  • Gazella gazella farasani
    (Thouless & Al-Bassri, 1991)
  • Gazella gazella muscatensis
    (Brooke, 1874)

Taxonomy

Until recently, it was only known from a single lectotype specimen mistakenly thought to have been collected on the Farasan Islands in the Red Sea in 1825. A 2013 genetic study of the lectotype specimen revealed that skull and skin do not stem from the same individual but belong to two distinct lineages of the mountain gazelle (Gazella gazella), necessitating restriction of the lectotype to the skin to conserve nomenclatural stability. A later study formalized the use of Gazella arabica for the Arabian lineage of the mountain gazelle, and synonymized Gazella erlangeri with G. arabica.[2][3]

Arabian Gazelles

Conservation

The Arabian gazelle is classified as a vulnerable species. There are many environmental factors affecting the population density of Arabian gazelles, such as human hunting, predation, competition, and climate change. The decline in population is due to human disturbances such as construction and illegal hunting. Other factors include temperature change, and predation (mainly by wolves); as the researchers stated in their findings that, “Wolf encounter rate had a significant negative effect on G. arabica population size, while G. dorcas population size had a significant positive effect, suggesting that wolf predation shapes the population size of both gazelle species (Shalmon, B., Sun, P. & Wronski, T., 2020). [4] [5]

See also

References
  1. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/117582065/88018124 IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group 2017. Gazella arabica. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017: e.T117582065A88018124. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-2.RLTS.T117582065A88018124.en. Downloaded on 9 November 2019.
  2. Bärmann EV, Börner S, Erpenbeck D, Rössner GE, Hebel C, Wörheide G (2013). "The curious case of Gazella arabica". Mammalian Biology. 78 (3): 220–225. doi:10.1016/j.mambio.2012.07.003.
  3. Bärmann, E. V., Wronski, T., Lerp, H., Azanza, B., Börner, S., Erpenbeck, D., Rössner, G. E. and Wörheide, G. (2013), A morphometric and genetic framework for the genus Gazella de Blainville, 1816 (Ruminantia: Bovidae) with special focus on Arabian and Levantine mountain gazelles. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 169: 673–696. doi: 10.1111/zoj.12066
  4. http://apps.webofknowledge.com/full_record.do?product=WOS&search_mode=GeneralSearch&qid=23&SID=5AYg1Uqqiusm1vVugRr&page=1&doc=10
  5. http://apps.webofknowledge.com/full_record.do?product=WOS&search_mode=GeneralSearch&qid=19&SID=5AYg1Uqqiusm1vVugRr&page=1&doc=2
  • Shalmon, B., Sun, P. & Wronski, T. Factors driving Arabian gazelles (Gazella arabica) in Israel to extinction: time series analysis of population size and juvenile survival in an unexploited population. Biodivers Conserv 29, 315–332 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-019-01884-8
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.