North-East / Central / Equatorial African lions

[BorneanTiger]

(01-22-2019, 06:45 PM)Lycaon Wrote: This shows that that lion classification is not as simple as leo leo and leo melanochaita

Not only that, the Cat Specialist Group expressed doubt over their classification of subspecies of other felid species, such as the cheetah and cougar: https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/hand...sAllowed=y


Cheetah, Pages 30−31:

"The most comprehensive phylogeographical study to date was by Charruau et al. (2011). This analysis of mtDNA (NADH5, cytb and control region) and 18 polymorphic nuclear microsatellites revealed a complex star-shaped pattern in the mtDNA haplotype network, with suggestions of geographical partitioning. For example, Asian, Arabian and north African cheetahs tended to group together as did those from north-east Africa, including Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia and Djibouti. However, this was not exclusive. East African cheetahs diverged into two different lineages from those of southern Africa. C. Groves (pers. obs.) found that Saharan cheetahs are probably distinguishable morphologically from their small spots, but that Asian cheetahs did not seem to differ significantly from African cheetahs. Charruau et al. (2011) concluded that the following subspecies can be recognised genetically, although no diagnostic morphological distinctions can be made currently:

Acinonyx jubatus jubatus (Schreber, 1775). Distribution: Southern and eastern Africa.

Acinonyx jubatus soemmeringii (Fitzinger, 1855). Distribution: NE Africa.

Acinonyx jubatus venaticus (Griffith, 1821). Distribution: SW Asia and India.

Acinonyx jubatus hecki (Hilzheimer, 1913). Distribution: W and N Africa.

However, the divergence times between these lineages are very recent (Charruau et al. 2011), e.g. 32,000-67,000 ya between jubatus and venaticus, and 16,000-72,000 ya between jubatus and soemmeringii, and the inclusion of ancient DNA samples from north Africa and southwest Asia blurred the distinction between north African and Asian cheetahs, suggesting isolation by distance. It is possible that there are only two subspecies of cheetah; northern (venaticus) and southern/eastern (jubatus), or perhaps none if further more comprehensive sampling of museum specimens is carried out."

In other words, Asiatic cheetahs (A. j. venaticus) could be the same subspecies as Northeast (A. j. soemmeringii) and Northwest (A. j. hecki) African cheetahs, in the same way that Asiatic lions can be considered the same subspecies as North African lions, unless further research demonstrates that the cheetah shouldn't be classified into different subspecies.


Cougar, Pages 32−33:

"A more recent study of mtDNA in pumas from throughout their range, although with lower sample sizes, supports only two main geographical groupings with North American populations having colonised since c. 8,000 years b.p. (Caragiulo et al. 2014). On this basis, we tentatively recognise two subspecies within Puma concolor:

Puma concolor concolor (Linnaeus, 1771). Distribution: South America, possibly excluding W of Andes in north.

Puma concolor couguar (Kerr, 1792). Distribution: North and Central America, possibly N South America W of Andes." Reply