The Northern bushbuck (''Tragelaphus scriptus'') is the nominate taxon of the bushbuck. It is a small to medium-sized antelope widespread in Africa. The northern (or harnessed) bushbuck has been separated from the

Cape bushbuck The Cape bushbuck (''Tragelaphus sylvaticus'') is a common and a widespread species of antelope in sub-Saharan Africa.Wronski T, Moodley Y. (2009)Bushbuck, harnessed antelope or both? ''Gnusletter'', 28(1):18-19. Bushbuck are found in a wide ran ...

, a southern and eastern species.Wronski T, Moodley Y. (2009) Bushbuck, harnessed antelope or both? ''Gnusletter'', 28(1):18-19.

Taxonomy

In a 2007 study, 19 genetically-based groupings were found, some of which do not correspond to previously described subspecies; eight of these were grouped under the nominate taxon. Former subspecies included as synonyms to the nominate taxon are ''phaleratus'', ''bor'' and ''dodingae''.Moodley Y, Bruford MW. (2007
Molecular biogeography: Towards an integrated framework for conserving pan-African biodiversity
''PLoS ONE''. 2:e454. Hassanin et al. (2018)Hassanin A, Houck ML, Tshikung D, Kadjo B, Davis H, Ropiquet A (2018) Multi-locus phylogeny of the tribe Tragelaphini (Mammalia, Bovidae) and species delimitation in bushbuck: Evidence for chromosomal speciation mediated by interspecific hybridization. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 129: 96-105. found an mtDNA/nuclear DNA discordance between ''scriptus'' and ''sylvaticus clades''. Their phylogenetic analyses showed that the ''scriptus'' (northern) lineage is a sister-group of ''sylvaticus'' (southern) lineage in the nuclear tree, whereas it has nyala (''Tragelaphus angasii)'' haplotypes in the mitochondrial tree. They also found different karyotypes (chromosome numbers and arrangements), with those of ''scriptu''s deriving from the nyala. They concluded that ''scriptus'' (but not ''sylvaticus'') had hybridized with an "extinct species closely related to ''T. angasii''" in ancient times; and that "the division into two bushbuck species is supported by the analyses of nuclear markers and by the karyotype...". As the first of the bushbucks to be described by Pallas in 1766 as ''Antilope scripta'' from Senegal, it retains the original species name for the bushbuck, corrected for gender.

Description

Bushbucks in general are smaller are than other tragelaphines, with a mainly red or yellow-brown ground color. According to Moodley ''et al''., the males of the West African population are more often striped than those in East or Southern Africa, although bushbucks with striping occur throughout the range.

Distribution

The nominate taxon occurs in Senegal, Gambia, Guinea,

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

and in the Niger Basin in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

as far east as the Cross River, south of the Bamenda Highlands through

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

, Chad, the Central African Republic to the

Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest ...

South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the ...

(?) and northern

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

, Gabon, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo to northern

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Ecology

It is common across its broad geographic distribution and is found in wooded savannas, forest-savanna mosaics, rainforests, in montane forests and semi-arid zones. It does not occur in the deep rainforests of the central Congo Basin.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q328803 Tragelaphus Mammals of Sub-Saharan Africa Mammals of West Africa Mammals of Ethiopia Mammals of Eritrea Mammals of Angola Mammals of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Mammals described in 1766 Bovids of Africa Taxa named by Peter Simon Pallas