Bubalus bubalis (Linnaeus, 1758) . Syst. Nat., 10th ed., 1:72.

TYPE LOCALITY: "Asia"?; restricted by Thomas (1911a) to Italy, Rome, but Linnaeus (1758) stated "Habitat in Asia, cultus in Italia " .

DISTRIBUTION: Formerly India to Indochina; true wild populations survive in Assam and Orissa (India), Nepal, N Thailand, and possibly in Bangladesh, Cambodia and Vietnam; domesticated in N Africa and S Europe east to Indonesia and in E South America; feral populations in Sri Lanka, Borneo and other parts of SE Asia, New Britain and New Ireland (Bismarck Arch., Papua New Guinea), and Australia.

STATUS: CITES - Appendix III (Nepal) as B. arnee "formerly listed as B. bubalis, a nonprotected, domesticated form"- but see comments below; IUCN - Endangered.

SYNONYMS: arnee, fulvus, hosei, indicus, kerabau, macroceros, mainitensis, moellendorfii, septentrionalis.

COMMENTS: Includes arnee, the name used for the species by those workers who do not employ specific names based on domestic animals: bubalis is the senior synonym; see Ellerman and Morrison-Scott (1951:383); but see also Corbet and Hill (1991: 130).