Panthera leo melanochaitus Smith, 1842:177
Cape lion
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Panthera leo melanochaita Smith, 1842:177; Panthera leo melanochætus Smith, 1842:177; Panthera leo melanochaita Smith, 1858 (wrong year); Panthera leo capensis (J. B. Fischer, 1830)
Conservation Status
Last record: 1858 or later; 1865 (Goodwin & Goodwin, 1973)
Taxonomically rediscovered (Kitchener et al., 2017)
Distribution
Africa
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Smith, H. (1842). Introduction to mammals. Jardine’s Naturalists’ Library. Second edition. Volume 15.
Other references:
Barnett, Ross, Yamaguchi, Nobuyuki, Barnes, Ian and Cooper, Alan. (2006). Lost populations and preserving genetic diversity in the lion Panthera leo: Implications for its ex situ conservation. Conservation Genetics 7: 507-514.
Bertens, Laura M. F. and Wilson, Ann Marie. (2022). Wonder, Empire, Science: The Quagga and Other Extinctions on Display at Naturalis. Museum & Society 20(1): 33-49.
Bertola, L. D., Miller, S. M., Williams, V. L., Naude, V. N., Coals, P., Dures, S. G., Henschel, P., Chege, M., Sogbohossou, E. A., Ndiaye, A., Kiki, M., Gaylard, A., Ikanda, D. K., Becker, M. S. and Lindsey, P. (2022). Genetic guidelines for translocations: Maintaining intraspecific diversity in the lion (Panthera leo). Evolutionary Applications 15: 22-39. https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.13318
Bree, van P. J. H. (1998). On a mounted skeleton of apparently the extinct Cape Lion, Panthera leo melanochaita. Contributions to Zoology 68(1): 67-71.
Christiansen, P. (2008). On the distinctiveness of the Cape lion (Panthera leo melanochaita) and a new specimen from the Zoological Museum in Copenhagen. Mammalian Biology 73: 58-65.
Day, David. (1981). The Doomsday Book of Animals: A Natural History of Vanished Species. New York, N.Y.: The Viking Press.
de Flamingh, A. et al. (2023). Genomic analysis supports Cape Lion population connectivity prior to colonial eradication and extinction. bioRxiv preprint. https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.07.31.551389
Goodwin, Harry A. and Goodwin, J. M. (1973). List of mammals which have become extinct or are possibly extinct since 1600. Int. Union Conserv. Nat. Occas. Pap. 8: 1-20.
Haas, Sarah K., Hayssen, Virginia and Krausman, Paul R. (2005). Panthera leo. Mammalian Species 762: 1-11, 3 figs.
Heck L. 1966. The Cape lions (Panthera leo melanochaita) of the museum Wiesbaden. Jahrbuchern des Nassauischen Vereins fur Naturkunde 98: 132-138.
Kitchener A. C., Breitenmoser-Würsten Ch., Eizirik E., Gentry A., Werdelin L., Wilting A., Yamaguchi N., Abramov A. V., Christiansen P., Driscoll C., Duckworth J. W., Johnson W., Luo S.-J., Meijaard E., O’Donoghue P., Sanderson J., Seymour K., Bruford M., Groves C., Hoffmann M., Nowell K., Timmons Z. & Tobe S. 2017. A revised taxonomy of the Felidae. The final report of the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. Cat News Special Issue 11: 80 pp.
Maas, Peter. (2010). Panthera leo melanochaitus. In: TSEW. Available online: http://www.petermaas.nl/extinct/speciesinfo/capelion.htm [Accessed 6/8/2012]
de Manuel, Marc et al. (2020). The evolutionary history of extinct and living lions. PNAS 117(20): 10927-10934.
Mazak, V. (1964). Preliminary list of the specimens of Panthera leo melanochaitus Ch. H. Smith, 1842, preserved in the museums of the whole world in 1963. Zäugetierk 29: 52-58.
Mazak, V. (1975). Notes on the black-maned lion of the Cape, Panthera leo melanochaita (Ch. H. Smith, 1842) and a revised list of preserved specimens. Verh. Koninkl. Nederlandse Akad. Wetenschappen 64: 1-44.
Ouzman, S. (1998). Note on the extinct Cape lion, Panthera leo melanochaitus. South African Archaeological Bulletin 53: 56. [Bushman or ‘San’ rock-painting depicting the Cape lion]
Rossi, L., Scuzzarella, C. M. and Angelici, F. M. (2020). Extinct or Perhaps Surviving Relict Populations of Big Cats: Their Controversial Stories and Implications for Conservation, pp. 393-417. In: Angelici F., Rossi L. (eds.). Problematic Wildlife II. Cham: Springer.
Tefera, Melaku. (2003). Phenotypic and reproductive characteristics of lions (Panthera leo) at Addis Ababa Zoo. Biodiversity and Conservation 12(8): 1629-1639.
Van Bree, P. J. H. (1998). On a mounted skeleton of apparently the extinct Cape lion, Panthera leo melanochaita (Ch. H. Smith, 1842). Contrib. Zool. 68: 67-71.
Yamaguchi, Nobuyuki. (2000). The Barbary lion and the Cape lion: their phylogenetic places and conservation. African Lion Working Group News 1: 9-11.
http://extinctanimals.proboards.com/thread/7406/panthera-leo-melanochaitus-cape-lion