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Bubalina is a subtribe of wild cattle that includes the various species of true buffalo. Species include the African buffalo, the
anoa Anoa, also known as dwarf buffalo and ''sapiutan'', are two species of the genus '' Bubalus'' endemic to the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia: the mountain anoa (''Bubalus quarlesi'') and the lowland anoa (''Bubalus depressicornis''). Both li ...
s, and the
wild water buffalo The wild water buffalo (''Bubalus arnee''), also called Asian buffalo, Asiatic buffalo and wild buffalo, is a large Bovinae, bovine native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It has been listed as ''Endangered species, Endangered'' i ...
(including the domesticated variant
water buffalo The water buffalo (''Bubalus bubalis''), also called the domestic water buffalo or Asian water buffalo, is a large bovid originating in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Today, it is also found in Europe, Australia, North America, So ...
). Buffaloes can be found naturally in
sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...
,
South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...
and
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
, and domestic and
feral A feral () animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals. As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in some ...
populations have been introduced to Europe, the Americas, and Australia. In addition to the living species, bubalinans have an extensive fossil record where remains have been found in much of
Afro-Eurasia Afro-Eurasia (also Afroeurasia, Eurafrasia or the Old World) is a landmass comprising the continents of Africa, Asia, and Europe. The terms are compound words of the names of its constituent parts. Its mainland is the largest and most populou ...
. Despite being sometimes referred to as buffaloes,
bison Bison are large bovines in the genus ''Bison'' (Greek: "wild ox" (bison)) within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American bison, ''B. bison'', found only in North Ame ...
are not members of the Bubalina, but are instead classified in the subtribe Bovina.


Taxonomy


Placement within Bovini

The majority of phylogenetic work based on
ribosomal DNA Ribosomal DNA (rDNA) is a DNA sequence that codes for ribosomal RNA. These sequences regulate transcription initiation and amplification, and contain both transcribed and non-transcribed spacer segments. In the human genome there are 5 chromos ...
,
chromosomal A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...
analysis, autosomal
intron An intron is any nucleotide sequence within a gene that is not expressed or operative in the final RNA product. The word ''intron'' is derived from the term ''intragenic region'', i.e. a region inside a gene."The notion of the cistron .e., gene. ...
s and
mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial D ...
has recovered three distinctive subtribes of
Bovini The Tribe (biology), tribe Bovini, or wild cattle, are medium to massive Bovinae, bovines that are native to North America, Eurasia, and Africa. These include the enigmatic, antelope-like saola, the African and Asiatic Bubalina, buffalos, and a c ...
: Pseudorygina (represented solely by the
saola The saola (''Pseudoryx nghetinhensis''), also called spindlehorn, Asian unicorn, or infrequently, Vu Quang bovid, is one of the world's rarest large mammals, a forest-dwelling bovine native to the Annamite Range in Vietnam and Laos. It was descr ...
), Bubalina, and Bovina (which today are represented by the genera ''
Bison Bison are large bovines in the genus ''Bison'' (Greek: "wild ox" (bison)) within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American bison, ''B. bison'', found only in North Ame ...
'' and ''
Bos ''Bos'' (from Latin '' bōs'': cow, ox, bull) is the genus of wild and domestic cattle. ''Bos'' is often divided into four subgenera: ''Bos'', ''Bibos'', ''Novibos'', and ''Poephagus'', but including these last three divisions within the gen ...
''). One
cytogenetic Cytogenetics is essentially a branch of genetics, but is also a part of cell biology/cytology (a subdivision of human anatomy), that is concerned with how the chromosomes relate to cell behaviour, particularly to their behaviour during mitosis an ...
analysis concerning the phylogenetic position on the saola suggests the species could be related to buffalo. This relationship has not, however, been supported by most phylogenetic work concerning Bovini.


Genera and species


Extant

There are currently two recognized extant genera of bubalinans – the African '' Syncerus'' and the Asiatic ''
Bubalus ''Bubalus'' is a genus of Asiatic bovines that was proposed by Charles Hamilton Smith in 1827. ''Bubalus'' and '' Syncerus'' form the subtribe Bubalina, the true buffaloes. The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature and classification of ...
''. Whilst the majority of molecular and morphological work strongly supports the recognition of these two genera as being sister taxa, since 2011 new uncertainty over the number of species that should be recognized has been introduced. In the 'traditional' classification given by Peter Grubb in the 2005 third edition of the widely used taxonomic reference work ''Mammal Species of the World'' the following six species are recognized, with the African buffalo split into five subspecies based on differences in the horns and skin colouration. * Subtribe Bubalina (Rütimeyer, 1865) ** Genus '' Syncerus'' (Hodgson, 1847) *** ''Syncerus caffer'' (Sparrman, 1779)African buffalo ** Genus ''
Bubalus ''Bubalus'' is a genus of Asiatic bovines that was proposed by Charles Hamilton Smith in 1827. ''Bubalus'' and '' Syncerus'' form the subtribe Bubalina, the true buffaloes. The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature and classification of ...
'' (Hamilton-Smith, 1827) *** ''Bubalus depressicornis'' (Hamilton-Smith, 1827)Lowland anoa *** ''Bubalus quarlesi'' (Ouwens, 1910)Mountain anoa *** ''Bubalus mindorensis'' (Heude, 1888)
Tamaraw The tamaraw or Mindoro dwarf buffalo (''Bubalus mindorensis'') is a small hoofed mammal belonging to the family Bovidae. It is endemic to the island of Mindoro in the Philippines, and is the only endemic Philippine bovine. It is believed, howe ...
*** ''Bubalus bubalis'' (
Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...
,
1758 Events January–March * January 1 – Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné) publishes in Stockholm the first volume (''Animalia'') of the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', the sta ...
)
Domestic water buffalo The water buffalo (''Bubalus bubalis''), also called the domestic water buffalo or Asian water buffalo, is a large bovid originating in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Today, it is also found in Europe, Australia, North America, So ...
*** ''Bubalus arnee'' (Kerr, 1792)
Wild water buffalo The wild water buffalo (''Bubalus arnee''), also called Asian buffalo, Asiatic buffalo and wild buffalo, is a large Bovinae, bovine native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It has been listed as ''Endangered species, Endangered'' i ...
In 2011 Groves and Grubb recognised four of the subspecies of the African buffalo as independent species. These they argued, should be considered as separate species based on the
phylogenetic species concept In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sex ...
, which states that any population can be recognised as a species if a member is diagnosable as belonging to that population. The African buffalo is noted to exhibit extreme morphological variability, and in the past a number of discreet species or subspecies have been named for specific geographic populations. The bovid biologist Castelló adopted the Groves and Grubb taxonomic interpretation, but others have expressed their concern that this taxonomic proposal needs more additional evidence before being adopted. Below is the listing of 'new' species recognized by Groves and Grubb (2011) with
vernacular name A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...
s following Castelló (2016) from ''Bovids of the World'': Note other vernacular names have been used by others, and in practice all taxa are simply known as "Cape buffalo". :* Genus '' Syncerus'' (Hodgson, 1847) ::* ''Syncerus nanus'' (Boddaert, 1785) –
Forest buffalo The African forest buffalo (''Syncerus caffer nanus''), also known as the dwarf buffalo or the Congo buffalo, is the smallest subspecies of the African buffalo. It is related to the Cape buffalo (''Syncerus caffer caffer''), the Sudan buffalo ('' ...
::* ''Syncerus brachyceros'' (Gray, 1837) – Lake Chad buffalo ::* ''Syncerus mathewsi'' (Lydekker, 1904) – Virunga buffalo ::* ''Syncerus caffer'' (Sparrman, 1779) – Cape buffalo


In fossil record

The fossil record of buffalos is extensive, with fossils found throughout
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
and
Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago a ...
. According to the fossil record and the molecular work, Bubalina and Bovina diverged from one and another from a common ancestor around 13.7 million years ago in the
Late Miocene The Late Miocene (also known as Upper Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), Epoch made up of two faunal stage, stages. The Tortonian and Messinian stages comprise the Late Miocene sub-epoch, which lasted from 11.63 Ma (million ye ...
. The '' Syncerus'' lineage and the ''
Bubalus ''Bubalus'' is a genus of Asiatic bovines that was proposed by Charles Hamilton Smith in 1827. ''Bubalus'' and '' Syncerus'' form the subtribe Bubalina, the true buffaloes. The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature and classification of ...
'' lineage diverged from each other in the
Late Miocene The Late Miocene (also known as Upper Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), Epoch made up of two faunal stage, stages. The Tortonian and Messinian stages comprise the Late Miocene sub-epoch, which lasted from 11.63 Ma (million ye ...
, perhaps give or take between 8.2 and 9.1 million years ago. This divergence corresponds to the time when the ancestor of ''Syncerus'' had arrived into Africa from Asia. Below is the list of a number of the described fossil species (listed alphabetically): * Subtribe Bubalina (Rütimeyer, 1865) :* Genus ''
Bubalus ''Bubalus'' is a genus of Asiatic bovines that was proposed by Charles Hamilton Smith in 1827. ''Bubalus'' and '' Syncerus'' form the subtribe Bubalina, the true buffaloes. The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature and classification of ...
'' (Smith, 1827) ::* †''Bubalus brevicornis'' (Young, 1936) ::* †''
Bubalus cebuensis The Cebu tamaraw (''Bubalus cebuensis'') is a fossil dwarf buffalo discovered in the Philippines, and first described in 2006. Anatomy and morphology The most distinctive feature of ''B. cebuensis'' was its small size. Large contemporary domes ...
'' (Croft ''et al.'', 2006) ::* †'' Bubalus grovesi'' (Rozzi, 2017) ::* †''
Bubalus mephistopheles ''Bubalus mephistopheles'', also known as the short-horned water buffalo, is an extinct species of bovine that lived in China during the Pleistocene and Holocene. It survived into historic times, perhaps as recently as 1200 BC. Description The ...
'' (Hopwood, 1925) ::* †''
Bubalus murrensis ''Bubalus murrensis'', also known as European water buffalo, is an extinct bovine that lived in Europe during the Pleistocene. Its closest living relatives are the wild water buffalo ''(Bubalus arnee)'', the tamaraw ''(Bubalus mindorensis)'', th ...
'' (Berckhemer, 1927) ::* †''Bubalus palaeindicus'' (Falconer, 1859) ::* †''
Bubalus palaeokerabau ''Bubalus palaeokerabau'' is an extinct species of water buffalo that was endemic to Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Jav ...
'' (Dubois, 1908) ::* †''Bubalus platyceros'' (Lydekker, 1877) ::* †''Bubalus teilhardi'' (Young, 1932) ::* †'' Bubalus wansijocki'' (Boule & Teilhard, 1928) ::* †''Bubalus youngi'' (Chow & Hsu, 1957) :* Genus †''
Hemibos ''Hemibos'' is an extinct even-toed ungulate belonging to the family Bovidae. Its fossil remains were found across Asia and Europe such as from China, Italian Peninsula, Iberian Peninsula, and State of Palestine, Israel, Pakistan, India. Descri ...
'' (Falconer, 1865) ::* †''Hemibos acuticornis'' (Falconer & Gautley, 1868) ::* †''Hemibos antelopinus'' (Falconer & Gautley, 1868) ::* †''Hemibos galerianus'' (Petronio & Sardella, 1998) ::* †''Hemibos gracilis'' (Qiu, 2004) ::* †''Hemibos triquetricornis'' (Falconer, 1865) :* Genus †'' Parabos'' (Arambourg & Piveteau, 1929) ::* †''Parabos cordieri'' (de Christol, 1832) ::* †''Parabos macedoniae'' (Arambourg & Piveteau, 1929) ::* †''Parabos soriae'' (Morales, 1984) :* Genus †'' Proamphibos'' (Pilgrim, 1939) ::* †''Proamphibos hasticornis'' (Pilgrim, 1939) ::* †''Proamphibos kashmiricus'' (Pilgrim, 1939) ::* †''Proamphibos lachrymans'' (Pilgrim, 1939) :* Genus '' Syncerus'' (Hodgson, 1847) ::* †'' Syncerus acoelotus'' (Gentry & Gentry, 1978) ::* †'' Syncerus antiquus'' (Duvernoy, 1851) – formerly a species of ''
Pelorovis ''Pelorovis'' ("prodigious/monstrous sheep") is an extinct genus of African wild cattle which existed during the Pleistocene epoch.Alan Turner & Mauricio Anton: ''Evolving Eden, An Illustrated Guide to the Evolution of the African Large-Mammal Fau ...
'' :* Genus †''
Ugandax ''Ugandax'' is an extinct genus of bovines in the subtribe Bubalina that lived from the Miocene to the Pleistocene of Africa. Cladistic Cladistics (; ) is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups ...
'' (Cooke & Coryndon, 1970) ::* †''Ugandax coryndonae'' (Gentry, 2006) ::* †''Ugandax demissum'' (Gentry, 1980) ::* †''Ugandax gautieri'' (Cooke & Coryndon, 1970)


Feral buffaloes

Domestic and
feral A feral () animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals. As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in some ...
populations have been introduced to Europe, the Americas, and Australia. Feral buffaloes in Australia are
water buffalo The water buffalo (''Bubalus bubalis''), also called the domestic water buffalo or Asian water buffalo, is a large bovid originating in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Today, it is also found in Europe, Australia, North America, So ...
of two types: river and swamp buffalo, and live in the
Top End The Top End of Australia's Northern Territory is a geographical region encompassing the northernmost section of the Northern Territory, which aside from the Cape York Peninsula is the northernmost part of the Australian continent. It covers a ra ...
. Some have been re-domesticated.


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1371237 Bovines Extant Miocene first appearances Animal subtribes