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until Groves (1983) re-examined the specimen concerned and showed that it was unlike any other specimen known from that region. Smith (in Cu vier, 1827) described a new gazelle, Antilope cora, based on a pair formerly living in the Tower of London menagerie, "said to have been brought from India, or more properly from the Persian Gulph" (vol. 4), or more definitively from "the shores of the Persian Gulf, eastern Arabia" (vol. 5). Groves (1983) argued that this should be regarded as the earliest name for the idmi of Arabia, which would therefore be known as Gazella gazella cora. Brooke (1873) recognized two species in Arabia: Gazella dorcas in the north and Gazella arabica in the south. By "North Arabia", however, he meant Sinai, which he called Arabia Petraea; and as far as one can deduce his South Arabian specimens appear to have been restricted to the Farasan specimen in Berlin, and a skull from Mocha in Yemen (now referred to G. bilkis), which was the only Arabian peninsular specimen registered in the Natural History Museum, London, by that date. A year later (Brooke, 1874) he added Gazella muscatensis, from the Batinah Coast of Oman, to the list; this was based on a pair living in the London Zoo, and hi s comparative sample of G. arabica appears to have been the same as in his earlier paper: this should be borne in mind when reading, for example, his contrasting of the Iyrate horns of his new species with the straight horns of arabica. Thomas (1897) described the Arabian sand gazelle, or rheem, as Gazella marica. Although Ellerman & Morrison-Scott (1951) associated this with the Saharan G. leptoceros, it was later shown (Groves & Harrison, 1967) that its true affinities are with the Central and Western Asian G. subgutturosa. In 1905, Neumann clarified the status of Pallas's gazella, as noted above, and observed that the Farasan and Sinai specimens which formed the basis of Lichtenstein's arabica were not in fact of the same taxon. Restricting the name arabica to Farasan, he described the Sinai specimens as Gazella arabica rueppelli (later shown to be sy nonymous with G. dorcas isabella by Groves, 1983), and described a further new su bspecies, G. arabica erlangeri, from Aden (based on living specimens in the London Zoo). It was not until well into the present century that the Arabian peninsular afri was described, under the name Gazella gazella saudiya, by Carruthers & Schwarz (1935). It was briefly raised to specific rank by Morrison-Scott (1939), then assigned to the African Gazella dorcas as an Arabian subspecies by Ellerman & Morrison-Scott (1951). It was Ellerman and Morrison-Scott (1951) who first brought some semblance of order into the by now rather complicated taxonomy of Arabian gazelles, recognizing three species in the Arabian peninsula: G. dorcas saudiya Carruthers and Schwarz, G. gazella arabica Hemprich and Ehrenberg (recte Lichtenstein), and G. leptoceros marica Thomas. Groves and Harrison (1967) followed this scheme, at least in outline; but they referred the taxon marica to the Central Asian G. subgutturosa instead of to the Saharan G. leptoceros, and revived the name muscatensis for the subspecies of G. gazella living along the Batinah coast of Oman. Groves (1969) added the Indo Iranian bennetti (and its subspecies) to G. dorcas, noting its resemblance to saudiya: this was perhaps the ultimate in taxonomic oversimplification applied to the genus. Since that time, the picture has once more become complicated. Groves (1983) found that the type of Antilope arabica Hemprich and Ehrenberg, from the Farasan Islands, is quite unlike the form of G. gazella which is widespread in the Arabian peninsula, which therefore takes the next available name, cora Smith. The gazelle from the Yemen highlands, placed with some misgivings in
C. gazella as a possible undescribed subspecies by Groves and Harrison (1967), was described as a new species, C. bilkis, by Groves and Lay (1985). Groves (1985, 1988) re-established C. bennetti as a separate species; he expressed more and more doubt whether the taxon saudiya could really be included in C. dorcas, and Rebholz et al. (1991) confirmed that its karyotype is indeed totally distinct. Thouless and AI Bassri (1991 ) examined recently taken specimens from the Farasan archipelago, and could not find anything resembling the type of arabica; they described the presentday Farasan population as a new subspecies, and thereby left a big question-mark over the whole arabica problem. Finally Groves, Thouless and Vassar! (in press) recognized yet another subspecies of C. gazella on the mainland, for which they revived Neumann's name erlangeri. Table 2.1 Putatively recognized gazelle taxa in the Arabian peninsula. SE,ecies C. dorcas Linnaeus C. saudiya Carruthers and Schwarz C. gazella Pallas C. bilkis Groves and Lay C. arabica Hemprich and Ehrenberg C. sub£utturosa Giildenstadt Arabian subsEies isabella Gray gazella Pallas cora Smith erlangeri Neumann farasani Thouless and Al Bassri muscatensis Brooke marica Thomas The result of all this is that the putatively recognizable taxa in Arabia are as given in Table 2.1. In this listing, C. dorcas isabella, C. gazella gazella, C. g. muscatensis and C. bilkis are not confirmed for Saudi Arabia; all the others - six in all, if the enigmatic C. arabica is counted - are known to exist, or have existed until recently, within the borders of the Kingdom. This paper will examine the interrelationships among these taxa, and outline their differences and recognition features. The meaning of taxonomic statements Before reviewing the taxonomy of Arabian gazelles, it is necessary to be explicit about the nature of taxonomic statements: what exactly are species, subspecies, and taxa in general Most practising taxonomists, working with what until recently was the only material available for taxonomic study, and is still the most accessible (namely, museum skins and skulls), "know" what species and subspecies are. The working definitions were put succinctly by Oeraniyagala (1955): • A species is a community of similar individuals in which each is di stinguishable from another of any other community . • A subspecies is one of several populations within a species which differ from one another as a whole but possess types of individuals that are common to some or all of these populations. 10
Page 1: CONSERVATION OF ARABIAN GAZELLES
Page 4 and 5: • 14 Survey of Gazelle Populatio
Page 6 and 7: List of Contributors Prof. Abdulaz
Page 8 and 9: Foreword HRH Prince SAUD AL-FAISAL
Page 10 and 11: 1. Recent Developments in Gazelle C
Page 12 and 13: • April, 1988: Survey of the Fara
Page 14 and 15: - May, 1991: Capture of rheem from
Page 16 and 17: References Abuzinada, A., 1987. Int
Page 20 and 21: Figure 2.1 a Figure 2.1 b
Page 22 and 23: Dissatisfaction with the BSC over t
Page 24 and 25: Nixon & Wheeler (1990) are not so d
Page 26 and 27: In order to test the PSC (phylogene
Page 28 and 29: (2) FEMALES Variable gazella cora
Page 30 and 31: two adult male and one adult female
Page 32 and 33: 4 4 * 4 3 2 *33 1 1 * 1 * 2 1 1 I 5
Page 34 and 35: (2) FEMALES Variable G. bennelli (
Page 36 and 37: In the two other equally parsimonio
Page 38 and 39: ufifrons benneui saudiya subguuurcs
Page 40 and 41: By branch-swapping, using Macelade,
Page 42 and 43: On my first visit to AI-Areen, in 1
Page 44 and 45: anch of the premaxilla generally to
Page 46 and 47: J.R., and Morrison-Scott, T.C.S. 19
Page 48 and 49: Aden: 12°50'N, 45°03'E (4 skins,
Page 50 and 51: species is currently the subject of
Page 52 and 53: One area where local people are ins
Page 54 and 55: 4. The Relationship Between Taxonom
Page 56 and 57: 'I1Ie current status of taxonomy Ad
Page 58 and 59: There is much scope for conflict be
Page 60 and 61: The Controversial Subject of Gazell
Page 62 and 63: • Taxonomic argument: The divisio
Page 64 and 65: conventional taxonomic characters t
Page 66 and 67: divergence between the mitochondria
Page 68 and 69:
Morphometries: Some morphological c
Page 70 and 71:
operative progranune could be set u
Page 72 and 73:
museum specimens (data extracted fr
Page 74 and 75:
Acknowledgements This work was carr
Page 76 and 77:
Lange, 1. 1972. Studien an Gazellen
Page 78 and 79:
6. Modern Techniques in Taxonomy an
Page 80 and 81:
protein electrophoresis still a val
Page 82 and 83:
"molecular clock") has been establi
Page 84 and 85:
Beni~hke, Nombela, J.J., Rodriguez
Page 86 and 87:
7. Chromosonlal Evolution in Gazell
Page 88 and 89:
and C. gazella (Vassart et ai., Art
Page 90 and 91:
analysis. Systematic relationships
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management efforts, whether managem
Page 94 and 95:
Kumamoto, A.T., and Bogart, M.H. 19
Page 96 and 97:
Table 8.1 Mammalian cells in cultur
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genetic diversity in a subspecies w
Page 100 and 101:
amount of change between individual
Page 102 and 103:
pardus, at positions 38, 61, 64, an
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Wildlife Research Center (KKWRC), n
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grown m MEM medium supplemented wit
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was involved in a V-autosome transl
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and heterozygosi ty values found in
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Viegas-Pequignot, E., and Dutrillau
Page 114 and 115:
cellular and molecular biology requ
Page 116 and 117:
structures in terms of visible morp
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Although a Robertsonian translocati
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Groves, c.P. 1969. On the smaller g
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G. bilkis and the dark forms of G.
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survey was carried out in February
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Conservation action: International
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12. Genetics of Saudi dorcas gazell
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Genetic research can clarify the ta
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dorcas gazelles Gazella do rcas ssp
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y less than 2% from each other. How
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Groves, c.P. 1969. On the smaller g
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eflect the truly remarkable output
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• National (central) government p
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past colonial Africa and Asia, and
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• Studies of gazelle growth rates
Page 146 and 147:
References Child, G., and Grainger,
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14. Survey of Gazelle Populations i
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Sony IPS-360 Global Positioning Sys
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1. Mahkshush The gazelle habitat co
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5. Jabal Jandaf A small population
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A slight caveat is required to thes
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• Appoint one local auxiliary ran
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Recommendations on park zoning, man
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'9~ ~~~
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flamingos Phoenicopterus ruber; her
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salt marshes and associated sand du
Page 168 and 169:
Many projects were initiated at KlS
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CG: Taxonomy is the essential backg
Page 172 and 173:
WR: On a mitochondrial DNA basis, w
Page 174 and 175:
CM & AG: We should not forget in si
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- AG: What could the taxon called G
Page 178 and 179:
Gazella dorcas 1) Survey Al-Khunfah
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3 Male mountain gazelle (Thumamah)
Page 182:
7 Female Arabian sand gazelle (Thum
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