The harnessed bushbuck (''Tragelaphus scriptus'') or northern bushbuck, is a medium-sized

antelope The term antelope refers to numerous extant or recently extinct species of the ruminant artiodactyl family Bovidae that are indigenous to most of Africa, India, the Middle East, Central Asia, and a small area of Eastern Europe. Antelopes do ...

, widespread in sub-Saharan-Africa. The harnessed bushbuck species has been separated from the

Cape bushbuck The Cape bushbuck (''Tragelaphus sylvaticus''), also known as imbabala is a common, medium-sized bushland-dwelling, and a widespread species of antelope in sub-Saharan Africa. It is found in a wide range of habitats, such as rain forests, montane ...

, a southern and eastern species.

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''. Hassanin et al. (2018) 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 The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

and in the Niger Basin in

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

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

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

Chad Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North Africa, North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to Chad–Libya border, the north, Sudan to Chad–Sudan border, the east, the Central Afric ...

, the Central African Republic to the

Nile The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the List of river sy ...

South Sudan South Sudan (), officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the north by Sudan; on the east by Ethiopia; on the south by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya; and on the ...

and northern

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It 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 ...

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

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

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 The Congo Basin () is the sedimentary basin of the Congo River. The Congo Basin is located in Central Africa, in a region known as west equatorial Africa. The Congo Basin region is sometimes known simply as the Congo. It contains some of the larg ...

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