The Arabian gazelle ''(Gazella arabica)'' is a species of
gazelle
A gazelle is one of many antelope species in the genus ''Gazella'' . This article also deals with the seven species included in two further genera, ''Eudorcas'' and ''Nanger'', which were formerly considered subgenera of ''Gazella''. A third f ...
from the
Arabian Peninsula
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate ...
.
Taxonomy
Until recently, it was only known from a single
lectotype
In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes the ...
specimen mistakenly thought to have been collected on the
Farasan Islands
The Farasan Islands ( ar, جزر فرسان; transliterated: ) are a small group of coral islands approximately 40 km off the coast of Jizan in the Red Sea, belonging to Saudi Arabia.
The government provides free ferry rides twice a day to ...
in the
Red Sea
The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...
in 1825. A 2013 genetic study of the lectotype specimen revealed that skull and skin do not stem from the same individual but belong to two distinct lineages of the
mountain gazelle
The mountain gazelle (''Gazella gazella''), also called the Palestine mountain gazelle, is a species of gazelle widely but unevenly distributed.
Description
Mountain gazelle are one of the few mammals in which both sexes have horns. Males ha ...
(''Gazella gazella''), necessitating restriction of the lectotype to the skin to conserve nomenclatural stability. A later study formalized the use of ''Gazella arabica'' for the Arabian lineage of the mountain gazelle, and synonymized ''
Gazella erlangeri
Erlanger's gazelle or Neumann's gazelle, (''Gazella erlangeri''), is a small dark gazelle with a stout body and short legs. It is described from Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
It is considered a threatened species, although no recent information is ava ...
'' with ''G. arabica''.
[Bärmann, E. V., Wronski, T., Lerp, H., Azanza, B., Börner, S., Erpenbeck, D., Rössner, G. E. and Wörheide, G. (2013), A morphometric and genetic framework for the genus Gazella de Blainville, 1816 (Ruminantia: Bovidae) with special focus on Arabian and Levantine mountain gazelles. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 169: 673–696. doi: 10.1111/zoj.12066]
Conservation
The Arabian gazelle is classified as a vulnerable species. There are many environmental factors affecting the population density of Arabian gazelles, such as human hunting, predation, competition, and climate change. The decline in population is due to human disturbances such as construction and illegal hunting. Other factors include temperature change, and predation (mainly by wolves); as the researchers stated in their findings that, “Wolf encounter rate had a significant negative effect on G. arabica population size, while G. dorcas population size had a significant positive effect, suggesting that wolf predation shapes the population size of both gazelle species (Shalmon, B., Sun, P. & Wronski, T., 2020).
See also
*
List of mammals of Saudi Arabia
This is a list of the mammal species present in Saudi Arabia. There are 78 mammal species in Saudi Arabia, of which three are critically endangered, three are endangered, nine are vulnerable, and two are near threatened.
The following tags are use ...
*
Saudi gazelle
The Saudi gazelle (''Gazella saudiya'') is a ''Gazella'' species that was once native to the Arabian Peninsula. It was declared extinct in the wild in 1996, as it was last observed in the wild in 1970. The Saudi gazelle was officially declared ex ...
References
*Shalmon, B., Sun, P. & Wronski, T. Factors driving Arabian gazelles (Gazella arabica) in Israel to extinction: time series analysis of population size and juvenile survival in an unexploited population. Biodivers Conserv 29, 315–332 (2020).
doi: 10.1007/s10531-019-01884-8
External links
The Extinction Website - Species Info - Arabian Gazelle
{{DEFAULTSORT:gazelle, Arabian
Arabian gazelle
The Arabian gazelle ''(Gazella arabica)'' is a species of gazelle from the Arabian Peninsula.
Taxonomy
Until recently, it was only known from a single lectotype specimen mistakenly thought to have been collected on the Farasan Islands in the Red ...
Antelopes of Asia
Mammals of the Arabian Peninsula
Arabian gazelle
The Arabian gazelle ''(Gazella arabica)'' is a species of gazelle from the Arabian Peninsula.
Taxonomy
Until recently, it was only known from a single lectotype specimen mistakenly thought to have been collected on the Farasan Islands in the Red ...