Giraffa camelopardalis (Linnaeus, 1758)

Diagnosis

Shanks white, presence of occipital horns, five ES in the Cytb gene: 186 A=> G, 288 G =>A, 333 A=>G, 597 C=>T, 924 C=>T; one ES in the CR: 462 A=>G; two ES in the CTAGE5 intron: 570 T=> C, 705 C=> G; two ES in the CWF19L1 intron: 263 T=> G, 264 T=> G; one ES in the DDX1 intron: 268 dACAT; one ES in the DHX36 intron: 50 iGTT; two ES in the SOS1 intron: 103 T=>C, 118 G=>A.

Type material examined

Neotype (here designated)

ETHIOPIA • 1 specimen (skin and complete skeleton); Abyssinia; MHNT-1996.121.2.

Other specimens

ETHIOPIA • 1 specimen (skull and skeleton parts); Abyssinia; MNHN-A8012 .

SUDAN • 1 specimen (skull), “Zarafa”; Sennar; MNHN-1845-211 .

Distribution

Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan (holotype), Uganda, Somalia, Ethiopia (neotype), Kenya.

Remarks

The holotype designation was based on a living giraffe illustrated by Belon du Mans (1553), which was not sampled for a museum collection. The neotype herein designated represents the most complete

specimen (skin and complete skeleton) and has been the first giraffe to be dissected, providing several anatomical drawings (see Joly & Lavocat 1845).