Ovis ammon Linnaeus 1758

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Artiodactyla, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 1, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 637-722 : 707

Ovis ammon Linnaeus 1758

Ovis ammon Linnaeus 1758 , Syst. Nat., 10th ed., Vol. 1: 70.

Type Locality: "Habitat in Siberia"; since identified as Kazakhstan, Vostochno-Kazakhstansk. Obl., Altai Mtns, Bukhtarma; near Ust-Kamenogorsk.

Vernacular Names: Argali.

Subspecies: :

Subspecies Ovis ammon subsp. ammon Linnaeus 1758

Subspecies Ovis ammon subsp. collium Severtzov 1873

Subspecies Ovis ammon subsp. comosa Hollister 1919

Subspecies Ovis ammon subsp. darwini Przewalski 1883

Subspecies Ovis ammon subsp. hodgsonii Blyth 1841

Subspecies Ovis ammon subsp. karelini Severtzov 1873

Subspecies Ovis ammon subsp. nigrimontana Severtzov 1873

Subspecies Ovis ammon subsp. polii Blyth 1841

Subspecies Ovis ammon subsp. severtzovi Nasonov 1914

Distribution: China (Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, N and S Sinkiang, W Sichuan, Tibet including Qinghai), N India (Ladak, Sikkim, Spiti), E Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal (Tibetan border), Pamir Range (NE Afghanistan, N Pakistan), SC Siberia (Altai Mntns), and Tajikistan.

Conservation: CITES – Appendix I as O. a. hodgsoni and O. a. nigrimontana, otherwise Appendix II; U.S. ESA – Endangered, except in Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, and Tajikistan, where status is Threatened; IUCN – Critically Endangered as O. a. nigrimontana and O. a. jubata [= comosa], Endangered as O. a. severtsovi and O. a. darwini, Vulnerable as O. a. hodgsonii , O. a. ammon , O. a. collium, O. a. karelini, and O. a. polii.

Discussion: Haltenorth (1963:121) and Corbet (1978 c:218) included orientalis (= aries ), musimon and vignei , but Nadler et al. (1973) and Corbet and Hill (1991:136) excluded them. The names daurica, jubata and mongolica are preoccupied by names of domestic sheep. Subspecies reviewed by Sopin (1982) and revised by Geist (1990 and in Shackleton, 1997). Diploid chromosome complement (2n = 56) and examination of mitochondrial region sequences indicate that severtzovi is not part of vignei division of O. aries , but a primitive argali, sister taxon to the rest of the species ( Bunch et al, 1998; Wu et al., 2003). Wu et al. (2003) transferred severtzovi to O. ammon .