Catalogue of Recent Wild Felids in the Hungarian Natural History Museum (Mammalia: Felidae)
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ANNALES HISTORICO-NATURALES MUSEI NATIONALIS HUNGARICI Volume 104 Budapest, 2012 pp. 387–415 Catalogue of recent wild felids in the Hungarian Natural History Museum (Mammalia: Felidae) B. BUZÁS1, I. KISPÁL2 & G. CSORBA2 1 Breeding Centre for Endangered Arabian Wildlife, P.O.Box 29922, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. E-mail: [email protected] 2 Hungarian Natural History Museum, H-1088 Budapest, Baross u. 13, Hungary. E-mail: [email protected], [email protected] – The Mammal Collection of the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, currently houses 402 specimens of recent wild felids belonging to 48 taxa. The collection, which has been accumulated in the last 180 years, houses rarities purchased in the 19th cen- tury, specimens with zoo origins, materials from the museum’s own collecting trips and do- nations from Hungarian hunters and expatriates. In the present catalogue the following data are given for each entry: catalogue number, sex, age, type of preservation, source, name of collector and collection or registration date. – Mammal Collection, museum holdings. INTRODUCTION After the publication of BUZÁS &CSORBA (2010), which enumerated the primates held in the Mammal Collection of the Hungarian Natural His- tory Museum (HNHM), Budapest, the present catalogue lists 402 specimens of wild felids (i.e. excluding domestic cats) housed in the HNHM. The old- est specimen is a skin of a European wild cat (Felis silvestris silvestris) dona- ted to the Museum in 1837, the very first of the nearly 100 specimens of the species stored recently in the collection. As in the case of the primate hol- dings, during its long history the collection obtained specimens via private donations, professional collection trips, purchases, and official transmittance e.g. by universities, zoos, and nature protection authorities. Annls hist.-nat. Mus. natn. hung. 104, 2012 388 B. Buzás, I. Kispál & G. Csorba Highlights of the collection include a skull of Flat-headed cat (Prionai- lurus planiceps) collected in Sarawak in 1870; a Bali tiger (Panthera tigris ba- lica) skull from northwestern Bali, which is believed to be the ninth known specimen of this now extinct subspecies (BUZÁS &FARKAS 1997); two In- dian leopard (Panthera pardus fusca) and one Snow leopard (Panthera uncia uncioides) skins from the 14th Dalai Lama donated in 1956 to the Hungarian Institute of Vehicle Development’s Csepel Expedition (truck test drive) to Tibet. Two specimens of tiger reportedly wild caught in Java and transported to the Budapest Zoo via Tilburg (I. LUKÁCSI, pers. comm.) and one of their offsprings born in captivity are also preserved in the collec- tion. These individuals probably represent the last captive Javan tigers (Panthera tigris sondaica) in the world. The 35 specimens of Carpathian lynx (Lynx lynx carpathicus) variously conserved as full mounts, skins, skulls and postcranial skeletons, constitute one of the best scientific series of the subspecies. SCOPE This catalogue lists all felid specimens housed in the collection of the HNHM as of February 2012. The collection consists of dry skins, skulls, postcranial skeletons, mounted and fluid preserved materials. All the available data on these specimens, derived from the labels and from the Museum Register, have been entered into a computer-based retrieval system, and the present catalogue provides a selection of the more important information for each specimens. In addition to the details included here, the system also contains, where available, data related to the collector, nature and source of acquisition, earlier identifica- tions, habitat and measurements. CLASSIFICATION The classification employed in this catalogue is based on the work of SUNQUIST & SUNQUIST (2009) except the subspecific division of Panthera pardus and Puma concolor where the authors did not decide for valid subspecies among the many named forms. In the case of these two species the opinions of SPALTON & AL HIKMANI (2006), UPHYRKINA et al. (2001) and WOZENCRAFT (2005) were followed. The specimens have been identified to subspecies level but where the determination was not possible (due to a lack of data or unreliable information) they were determined to species level only. In the course of identification the following works had been consulted: EMMONS (1997), MAZÁK (1996), NOWAK (1999), REDFORD &EISENBERG (1992), SUNQUIST & SUNQUIST (2002, 2009), WOZENCRAFT (2005). Annls hist.-nat. Mus. natn. hung. 104, 2012 Catalogue of recent wild felids in the HNHM (Mammalia: Felidae) 389 EXPLANATION OF HEADINGS The following headings refer to the information given under each heading of the Catalogue. Catalogue number. The number assigned by the Museum to each specimen. Sex and Age. Three sex categories are used: male, female and unsexed. Information on gender was taken from the field tag and confirmed from the actual specimen whenever possible. The following age classes were recorded: adult, subadult, juvenile, neonatus. Type of preservation. The following categories have been recorded in the catalogue: mounted, skin, skull, postcranial skeleton and other types such as tooth cross sections. Locality. Spelling of geographical names follows the usage of The Times Atlas of the World. Many of the older specimens have no locality data in which case the country was, where possible, inferred from the known range of the species concerned. In case locality information was not available or the specimen was taken over from a zoo, “No data” was entered in this column. Remarks. The name of the collector and the date of collection were listed. The date signifies “collection in the wild”, but in the case of a zoo specimen, where this information is not available, the date has been inferred when the animal died in captivity or when it was actually acquired by the HNHM. CATALOGUE Felinae FISCHER, 1817 (SCHREBER, 1775) ssp. – 2 specimens 2456.1 (adult female, mounted) – Locality. Africa. – Remarks. Collected in 1900. Purcha- sed from A. LENDL, 28.VI.1900. 4544 (adult unsexed, rug, skull inside) – Locality. No data. – Remarks. Historical specimen with no data. (SMITH, 1834) – 5 specimens 68.217.1. (adult unsexed, damaged skull) – Locality. East Africa. – Remarks. Collected by K. KITTENBERGER, 1903–1929. 2004.6.1. (adult unsexed, skin, skull) – Locality. Republic of Namibia. – Remarks. Confis- cated by Hungarian authorities, X.2000. 2009.31.1. (unsexed skull) – Locality: Republic of Namibia. – Remarks: No data. 2010.70.1. (unsexed, skin, skull) – Locality. Republic of Namibia. – Remarks. Collected by B. HIDVÉGI, 2007. Donated by B. HIDVÉGI, VIII.2010. 11149 (12 years old male, skin) – Locality. Zoo specimen, wild caught in the Republic of Namibia. – Remarks. Collected in 27.XII.1990. Donated by the Municipal Botanical and Zoological Gardens, Budapest, Hungary, 2006. Annls hist.-nat. Mus. natn. hung. 104, 2012 390 B. Buzás, I. Kispál & G. Csorba (SCHREBER, 1776) ssp. – 3 specimens 2476 (adult unsexed, mounted) – Locality. Zoo specimen, wild caught in Africa. – Remarks. Purchased from A. LENDL, 15.XI.1901. 2004.10.13. (adult unsexed, mounted) – Locality. Republic of South Africa. – Remarks. Collected by S. J. KÖLCSEY, 1.VIII.1989. Donated by S. J. KÖLCSEY, III.2004. 2006.9.2. (adult male, mounted, skull inside) – Locality. No data. – Remarks. Donated by I. HALÁSZ, 2005. (SCHREBER, 1776) – 1 specimen 2007.44.15. (unsexed adult, mounted, skull) – Locality. Tarkastad District, Republic of South Africa. – Remarks. Collected by B. HIDVÉGI, 2003. Donated by. B. HIDVÉGI, X.2007. (J. B. FISCHER, 1829) – 3 specimens 4239 (adult male, skull) – Locality. A. A. Agha, Upper Nile, Republic of South Sudan. – Remarks. Collected by O.VOJNICH, 13.III.1910. 67.85.1. (adult male, skin, skull) – Locality. Meki, East Shewa, Oromia Region, Federal De- mocratic Republic of Ethiopia. – Remarks. Collected by M. GAJDÁCS, 1952. Purchased from M. GAJDÁCS, 1960. 67.91.1. (adult male, skull) – Locality. Mojo [= Modjo], East Shewa, Oromia Region, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. – Remarks. Collected by M. GAJDÁCS, 1956. Pur- chased from M. GAJDÁCS, 1960. (VIGORS et HORSFIELD, 1827) – 1 specimen 68.327.1. (adult male, mounted, skull inside) – Locality. No data. – Remarks. Purchased in 1968. SCHREBER, 1777 ssp. – 4 specimens 55.42.1. (adult male, skull plus postcranial skeleton) – Locality. Zoo specimen with no data. – Remarks. Donated by the Municipal Botanical and Zoological Gardens, Budapest, Hungary, 18.I.1955. 2002.16.2. (juvenile male, skin, skull plus postcranial skeleton) – Locality. Zoo specimen with no data. – Remarks. Donated by the Szeged Zoo, Szeged, Hungary, 2002. 2003.17.1. (adult male, skull plus postcranial skeleton) – Locality. Zoo specimen with no data. – Remarks. Donated by the Szeged Zoo, Szeged, Hungary, 2002. 2003.29.1. (adult female, skin, skull plus postcranial skeleton) – Locality. Zoo specimen with no data. – Remarks. Donated by the Szeged Zoo, Szeged, Hungary, 7.III.2003. GRAY, 1830 – 2 specimens 649.7.a (subadult unsexed, skin, skull with no mandible) – Locality. Darjeeling, West Ben- gal State, India. – Remarks. Donated by T. DUKA, 4.XII.1861. 649.7.b (subadult unsexed, skin, skull) – Locality. Darjeeling, West Bengal State, India. – Remarks. Donated by T. DUKA, 4.XII.1861. Annls hist.-nat. Mus. natn. hung. 104, 2012 Catalogue of recent wild felids in the HNHM (Mammalia: Felidae) 391 PEARSON, 1832 – 1 specimen 69.42.1. (subadult female, skull, two cervical vertebra) – Locality. Daitari, Keonjhar District, Orissa State, India. – Remarks. Donated by. Mrs. F.