Alashan wapiti

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Alashan wapiti
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Cervidae
Subfamily: Cervinae
Genus: Cervus
Species:
Subspecies:
C. c. alashanicus
Trinomial name
Cervus canadensis alashanicus
(Bobrinskii & Flerov, 1935)

The Alashan wapiti (Cervus canadensis alashanicus) is an Asian subspecies of wapiti ( Cervus canadensis ), or elk as they are called in North America.

The Alashan wapiti is found in pockets of Northern China and Mongolia. [1] The Alashan wapiti is the smallest subspecies of wapiti and has the lightest coat color. It is the least-studied subspecies of wapiti, with little formal research having been conducted; this is partially due to the deer’s vast, remote distribution over frequently inaccessible terrain, as well as smaller, fragmented overall populations.[ citation needed ]

This subspecies of wapiti may be synonymous with the Manchurian wapiti (C. c. xanthopygus) as found in a 2004 study on the genetics of the Red Deer (Cervus elaphus). [2]

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References

  1. Ohtaishi, Noriyuki; Gao, Yaoting (June 1990). "A review of the distribution of all species of deer (Tragulidae, Moschidae and Cervidae) in China". Mammal Review. 20 (2–3): 125–144. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2907.1990.tb00108.x. ISSN   0305-1838.
  2. Mitochondrial DNA phylogeography of red deer (Cervus elaphus), by Christian J. Ludt. In Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 31 (2004), p. 1064–1083. Online copy Archived 2008-04-09 at the Wayback Machine