Ursus maritimus Phipps, 1774 . Voyage Towards North Pole, p. 185.

TYPE LOCALITY: "on the main land of Spitsbergen" [Norway] .

DISTRIBUTION: Circumpolar in the Arctic, S limits determined by ice pack.

STATUS: CITES - Appendix II; IUCN - Vulnerable.

SYNONYMS: eogroenlandicus Knotterus-Meyer, 1908; groenlandicus Birula, 1932; jenaensis Knotterus-Meyer, 1908; labradorensis Knotterus-Meyer, 1908; marinus Pallas, 1776; polaris Shaw, 1792; spitzbergensis Knotterus-Meyer, 1908; ungavensis Knottnerus-Meyer, 1908.

COMMENTS: Revised by Wilson (1976). Reviewed by DeMaster and Stirling (1981, Mammalian Species, 145). Placed in subgenus Thalarctos by Gromov and Baranova (1981). Sister species to arctos (Goldman et al., 1989; Shields and Kocher, 1991).