Helarctos Horsfield, 1825 . Zool. J., 2(6):221.

TYPE SPECIES: Helarctos euryspilus Horsfield, 1825 (= Ursus malayanus Raffles, 1821), by original designation (Melville and Smith, 1987).

COMMENTS: Revised by Pocock (1932b). Van Gelder (1977) placed Helarctos in Melursus . Pocock (1941a) first suggested the close relationship between M. ursinus and H. malayanus; however, this was not well supported by Goldman et al. (1989).