Prionailurus bengalensis (Kerr, 1792)

W. Christopher Wozencraft, 1993, Order Carnivora, Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition), Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 279-348 : 295

Prionailurus bengalensis (Kerr, 1792) . In Linnaeus, Anim. Kingdom, 1:151.

TYPE LOCALITY: "Bengal" [ India] .

DISTRIBUTION: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan (Tsushima and Iriomote Isis), Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippine Isis, Taiwan, Thailand, republics of the former USSR, and Vietnam.

STATUS: CITES - Appendix I as Felis bengalensis bengalensis (except for Chinese population); otherwise Appendix II. U.S. ESA - Endangered; IUCN - Endangered as F. iriomotensis .

SYNONYMS: alleni Sody, 1949 ; anastasiae Satunin, 1905; borneoensis Brongersma, 1935; chinensis Gray, 1837 ; ellioti Gray, 1842 ; euptilura Elliot, 1871; horsfieldi Gray, 1842; ingrami Bonhote, 1903 ; iriomotensis Imaizumi, 1967 ; javanensis Desmarest, 1816 ; manchurica Mori, 1922 ; microtis Milne-Edwards, 1872 ; minuta Temminck, 1827 ; nipalensis Horsfield and Vigors, 1829 ; pardochrous Hodgson, 1844 ; raddei Trouessart, 1904; reevesii Gray, 1843; ricketti Bonhote, 1903; scripta Milne-Edwards, 1872; sumatrana Horsfield, 1821 ; tenasserimensis Gray, 1867 ; tingia Lyon, 1908; trevelyani Pocock, 1939; undata Radde, 1862; wagati Gray, 1867.

COMMENTS: Placed in Prionailurus by Pocock (1917), Weigel (1961), Hemmer (1978), Groves (1982a), and Kratochvfl (1982c). Includes euptilura following Allen (1939) and Gao (in Gao, 1987). Heptner (1971) and Gromov and Baranova (1981), considered euptilura a distinct species; however, Gao (in Gao, 1987) pointed out that Heptner compared Russian specimens with those from Southeast Asia, whereas when intervening Chinese populations are included, his distinctions do not hold. Includes minuta following Chasen (1940). Imaizumi (1967) described Mayailurus iriomotensis , but his key characters are polymorphic in bengalensis ( Glass and Todd, 1977; Petzsch, 1970). Groves (1982a) believed that iriomotensis warranted species level recognition.