Genetic / taxonomic issues for the Cat Specialist Group

[BorneanTiger]

Lion (Panthera leo)

Initially, several subspecies of African lions were described, including the Barbary lion (Panthera leo leo) of the Maghreb (Northwest Africa), the Senegal lion (Panthera leo senegalensis) of West Africa, and the Cape (Panthera leo melanochaita) and Kruger lions (Panthera leo krugeri) of South Africa, with the Asiatic lion (formerly Panthera leo persica) considered to be a separate subspecies. At some point, it was considered that all African lions belong to the same subspecies, Panthera leo leo, with the Asiatic lion being a separate subspecies. Eventually, genetic tests, like those of Barnett et al. and Antunes et al. in the 2000's, showed that genetically, certain African lions, such as the Barbary lion, were more closely related to the Asiatic lion than to other African lions, such as the Kruger lion, thus making the traditional recognition of the African and Asian lions as separate subspecies questionable.

In 2017, the CSG recognised lions in Asia and Northern, Western and Central Africa as belonging to the subspecies Panthera leo leo, and those in Eastern and Southern Africa as belonging to the subspecies Panthera leo melanochaita, but there is a problem, the 2 subspecies appear to overlap in the Northeast African country of Ethiopia, judging by the work of Bertola et al., which would mean that Ethiopian lions (formerly Panthera leo roosevelti or Felis leo roosevelti, in honor of the US President Theodore Roosevelt (https://archive.org/stream/smithsonianmi...3/mode/2up), but also treated as belonging to the Masai subspecies by Haas et al. and Wozencraft) are neither purely Panthera leo leo nor Panthera leo melanochaita, but a mixture (Panthera leo leo × Panthera leo melanochaita or Panthera leo leo + Panthera leo melanochaita), and the Cat Specialist Group put a question mark over the Horn of Africa in Page 72: 
   
   

As mentioned here, it's not necessarily the case that geneticists like Bertola found mixed up lions (Panthera leo leo × Panthera leo melanochaita), it's to do with where they found Northern (P. l. leo) and Southern lions (P. l. melanochaita) in Ethiopia or Northeast Africa, which suggests that their ranges overlap there:

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

An Ethiopian lion (formerly Panthera leo abyssinica or Panthera leo roosevelti) discovered in Bale Mountains National Park, Northeast Africa, image by The National Geographic: 

*This image is copyright of its original author

Additionally, not all Central African lions, particularly Northeast Congolese lions (formerly P. l. azandica) are of the Northern subspecies (P. l. leo), as indicated above. A number of them are of the Northern subspecies, but others are of the Southern subspecies (P. l. melanochaita).

Northeast Congolese lion (formerly Panthera leo azandica) at Virunga National Park, Central Africa, photo by Adrian Treves: 

*This image is copyright of its original author

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