Taxonomy
Nilgiritragus hylocrius [Ropiquet & Hassanin, 2005].
Formerly Hemitragus hylocrius [Ogilby, 1838].
Citation: Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1837:81 [1838]
Type
locality: India, Nilgiri Hills.
Kingdom:
Animalia Linnaeus, 1758 - animals
Subkingdom:
Bilateria (Hatschek, 1888) Cavalier-Smith, 1983 - bilaterians, triploblastic
animals
Branch:
Deuterostomia Grobben, 1908 - deuterostomes
Infrakingdom:
Chordonia (Haeckel, 1874) Cavalier-Smith, 1998
Phylum:
Chordata Bateson, 1885 - chordates
Infraphylum:
Gnathostomata auct. - jawed vertebrates
Superclass:
Tetrapoda Goodrich, 1930 - tetrapods
Class:
Mammalia Linnaeus, 1758 - mammals
Subclass:
Theriiformes (Rowe, 1988:245) McKenna & Bell, 1997:vii,36
Infraclass:
Holotheria (Wible et al., 1995) McKenna & Bell, 1997:vii,
Superorder:
Preptotheria (McKenna, 1975:41) McKenna in Stucky & McKenna
Order:
Ungulata (un-goo-LAH-tuh) (Linnaeus, 1766) McKenna, 1975:41
Suborder:
Ruminantia Scopoli, 1777:493-496
Superfamily:
Bovoidea (Gray, 1821:308) Simpson, 1931:264, 284
Family:
Bovidae
Subfamily:
Caprinae
Tribe:
Caprini
Genus:
Nilgiritragus ( Ropiquet & Hassanin, 2005)
Species:
hylocrius (Ogilby, 1838)
Scientific
Name:
Nilgiritragus hylocrius (Ropiquet & Hassanin, 2005)
It
was after Ropiquet
and Hassanin(2005) carried out
phylogenetic analyses and proposed a
new taxonomy that the genus name was changed to Nilgiritragus from hemitragus. The analyses were carried out on a matrix including most extant
species currently described in the tribe Caprini sensu lato, and 3165 nucleotide
characters, coming from four different markers, i.e., an intron of the nuclear
gene coding for the protein kinase C iota, and three mitochondrial genes
(subunit II of the cytochrome c oxidase, cytochrome b, and 12S
rRNA). The results show that the genus Hemitragus is polyphyletic, as
H. jemlahicus is associated with Capra (goats), H.
hylocrius is the sister-group of Ovis (sheep), and H. jayakari
is allied with Ammotragus lervia (aoudad). In the light of these
unexpected results, Ropiquet and Hassanin revaluated the validity of the morphological
characters originally used for defining the genus Hemitragus. They
have proposed a new taxonomy, where the three species of tahr are ranged
into three monospecific genera: the genus Hemitragus is restricted to the
Himalayan tahr, and two new genera are created: Arabitragus for the
Arabian tahr and Nilgiritragus for the Nilgiri tahr.
