Prionailurus bengalensis (Kerr, 1792)

Jo, Yeong-Seok, Baccus, John T. & Koprowski, John L., 2018, Mammals of Korea: a review of their taxonomy, distribution and conservation status, Zootaxa 4522 (1), pp. 1-216 : 85

Prionailurus bengalensis (Kerr, 1792) —Leopard Cat

Felis bengalensis Kerr in Linnaeus, 1792 p.151; Type locality- southern Bengal; Ellerman & Morrison-Scott, 1951 p.312; Corbet, 1978 p.183; Oh, 2004a p.156.

F. euptilura Elliot, 1871 p.761 ; Type locality- northwestern Siberia; Won, 1968 p.307.

F. microtis Milne-Edwards, 1871 p.221 ; Type locality- northeastern China; Kishida & Mori, 1931 p.379.

F. manchurica Mori, 1922b p.609 ; Type locality- Mukden (Shenyang), Manchuria.

F. bengalensis manchurica: Tate, 1947 p.189 ; Won, 1958 p.442; Won, 1967 p.145.

F. euptilura microtis: Won, 1968 p.307 .

F. bengalensis euptilura: Corbet, 1978 p.183 ; Yoon, 1992 p.115.

Prionailurus bengalensis: Han, 1994 p.46 ; Won & Smith, 1999 p.20.

Range: Leopard cats occur throughout Korea except in the remote islands and Jeju Island, where the species became extinct in the 1930s–1940s ( Fig. 54 ).

Remarks: Populations in Korea were classified as one subspecies, P. b. euptilurus (or euptilura ) Elliott, 1871. Heptner (1971) considered euptilura a distinct species, but this was generally not followed (e.g., Wozencraft 2005).

Conservation status: The South Korean government delisted P. bengalensis as a game species in 1965 and the Ministry of Environment designated the species an endangered species in 1998. The Red Data Book of South Korea lists P. bengalensis as ‘Vulnerable’ (NIBR 2012).

Figures

FIGURE 54. Range map of Prionailurus bengalensis in Korea.