Chinese leopard

North Chinese leopard (P. p. orientalis) in Tierpark Hellabrunn, Germany
Indochinese leopard (P. p. delacouri) in Saigon Zoo, Vietnam
Indian leopard (P. p. fusca)

The term Chinese leopard refers to any of the following three leopard (Panthera pardus) subspecies occurring in China:

Taxonomic history

A black leopard from India served as basis for Meyer's description of Felis fusca in 1794. This type specimen was on display at the Tower of London.[6] A leopard skin from Korea was described by Schlegel as Felis orientalis in 1857.[7] A leopard skin received by the British Museum was described in 1862 by Gray as Leopardus japonensis.[8] Gray also described a leopard skin from the environs of Peking and named it Leopardus chinensis.[9] And another leopard specimen from southern China served as basis for the name Felis pardus sinensis, described in 1911.[10] Fossil leopard teeth excavated in southern China dating to the Middle Pleistocene were assessed as similar to those of P. p. sinensis.[11]

A leopard skin from Annam served as type specimen for Panthera pardus delacouri described in 1930 by Pocock.[12]

Leopards in southern China were subsumed to P. p. delacouri following phylogeographic analysis in 1996.[4] In 2001, results of a genetic analysis indicated that P. p. delacouri and P. p. japonensis are contiguous, and that the latter is contiguous with P. p. orientalis.[13]

Chinese authors used P. p. fusca as synonym for P. p. delacouri.[14] In 2017, the Cat Classification Taskforce of the Cat Specialist Group subsumed P. p. japonensis to P. p. orientalis, thereby recognising leopards in northern China as belonging to P. p. orientalis, while accepting the possibility of leopards in southern China as belonging to P. p. delacouri.[15]

Distribution

Camera-trap surveys conducted between 2002 and 2009 in 11 nature reserves in southern China recorded leopards only in Changqing National Nature Reserve in the Qinling Mountains, but not in Sichuan's Wolong Nature Reserve and other protected areas in Sichuan.[16] Contemporary records of leopards exist from protected areas in Hebei, Henan and Shanxi Provinces, and Ningxia Autonomous Region. No leopard was recorded during surveys in Gansu Province. Whether leopards still occur in Qinghai Province is uncertain. The species has probably been extirpated in Hunan, Hubei, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangxi and Jiangxi provinces. It is listed as nationally Critically Endangered, but receives little attention from Chinese wildlife biologists and conservationists.[5]

Ecology

Contemporary ecological data on habitat use and requirements of leopards in China does not exist.[5]

Results of surveys in Wolong Nature Reserve in the 1980s indicate that leopards might have attacked giant pandas.[17]

Attacks on humans have also been reported, though rare.[18]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Xiao, W.; Feng, L.; Zhao, X.; Yang, H.; Dou, H.; Cheng, Y.; Mou, P.; Wang, T.; Ge, J. (2014). "Distribution and abundance of Amur tiger, Amur leopard and their ungulate prey in Hunchun National Nature Reserve, Jilin". Biodiversity Science (22): 717–724.
  2. ↑ Yang, H.; Zhao, X.; Han, B.; Wang, T.; Mou, P.; Ge, J.; Feng, L. (2018). "Spatiotemporal patterns of Amur leopards in northeast China: Influence of tigers, prey, and humans". Mammalian Biology. 92: 120–128.
  3. ↑ Nam, S. (2005). "Ecosystem Governance in a Cross-border Area: Building a Tuman River Transboundary Biosphere Reserve" (PDF). China Environment Series. 7: 83–88.
  4. 1 2 Miththapala, S.; Seidensticker, J.; O’Brien, S. J. (1996). "Phylogeographic subspecies recognition in leopards (Panthera pardus): molecular genetic variation". Conservation Biology. 10 (4): 1115–1132.
  5. 1 2 3 Laguardia, A.; Kamler, J. F.; Li, S.; Zhang, C.; Zhou, Z.; Shi, K. (2017). "The current distribution and status of leopards Panthera pardus in China". Oryx. 51 (1): 153−159.
  6. ↑ Meyer, F. A. A. (1794). "Über de la Metheries schwarzen Panther". Zoologische Annalen. Erster Band. Weimar: Im Verlage des Industrie-Comptoirs. pp. 394–396.
  7. ↑ Schlegel, H. (1857). "Felis orientalis". Handleiding Tot de Beoefening der Dierkunde, Ie Deel. Breda: Boekdrukkerij van Nys. p. 23.
  8. ↑ Gray, J. E. (1862). "Description of some new species of Mammalia". Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society of London: 261−263, plate XXXIII.
  9. ↑ Gray, J.E. (1867). Notes on the skulls of the cats (Felidae). Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1867: 258−277.
  10. ↑ Brass, E. (1911). Aus dem Reiche der Pelze. Berlin: Verlag der Neuen Pelzwaren-Zeitung.
  11. ↑ Hemmer, H. (1976). Fossil History of Living Felidae. Carnivore II: 58–61.
  12. ↑ Pocock, R. I. (1930). "The Panthers and Ounces of Asia". Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 34 (2): 307–336.
  13. ↑ Uphyrkina, O.; Johnson, E. W.; Quigley, H.; Miquelle, D.; Marker, L.; Bush, M.; O'Brien, S. J. (2001). "Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus" (PDF). Molecular Ecology. 10 (11): 2617–2633. doi:10.1046/j.0962-1083.2001.01350.x. PMID 11883877.
  14. ↑ Smith, A.T. & Xie, Y. (2008). A Guide to the Mammals of China. Princeton University Press, New Jersey, USA.
  15. ↑ Kitchener, A. C.; Breitenmoser-Würsten, C.; Eizirik, E.; Gentry, A.; Werdelin, L.; Wilting, A.; Yamaguchi, N.; Abramov, A. V.; Christiansen, P.; Driscoll, C.; Duckworth, J. W.; Johnson, W.; Luo, S.-J.; Meijaard, E.; O’Donoghue, P.; Sanderson, J.; Seymour, K.; Bruford, M.; Groves, C.; Hoffmann, M.; Nowell, K.; Timmons, Z.; Tobe, S. (2017). "A revised taxonomy of the Felidae: The final report of the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group" (PDF). Cat News (Special Issue 11). ISSN 1027-2992.
  16. ↑ Li, S., Wang, D., Lu, Z. & Mc Shea, W.J. (2010). "Cats living with pandas: The status of wild felids within giant panda range, China". Cat News 52: 20–23.
  17. ↑ Schaller, G. B.; Jinchu, H.; Wenshi, P.; Jing, Z. (1985). The giant pandas of Wolong. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
  18. ↑ Heptner, V. G.; Sludskii, A. A. (1992) [1972]. "Bars (Leopard)". Mlekopitajuščie Sovetskogo Soiuza. Moskva: Vysšaia Škola [Mammals of the Soviet Union, Volume II, Part 2]. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution and the National Science Foundation. pp. 269–271. ISBN 90-04-08876-8.
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