Hydropotes inermis Swinhoe, 1870 —Chinese Water Deer

Hydropotes inermis Swinhoe, 1870 p.264; Type locality- Yangtze River, China; Ellerman & Morrison-Scott, 1951 p.354; Won, 1968 p.379; Corbet, 1978 p.203; Han, 1994 p.46; Won & Smith, 1999 p.23; Oh, 2004b p.267.

H. argyropus Heude, 1884 p.1017; Type locality- Korea (Nomen nudum by Trouessart); Kishida & Mori, 1931 p.380.

H. kreyenbergi Hilzheimer, 1906 p.171; Type locality- Korea.

H. inermis argyropus: Kuroda, 1938 p.8; Tate, 1947 p.331; Ellerman & Morrison-Scott, 1951 p.354; Won, 1958 p.432; Won, 1967 p.55; Won, 1968 p.379; Corbet, 1978 p.203; Yoon, 1992 p.132.

Range: The distribution of the Chinese water deer included central and southern Korea, except Jeju Island and remote islands (Won 1968; Fig. 68). This deer had a limited range in the northeastern part of the Korean Peninsula (Kim et al. 2015). Due to its economic value as meat and fur, the North Korean government wanted to increase its range and therefore translocated three times (late 1950s–1960s) the species. Currently, H. inermis in North Korea expanded the distribution beyond the northeastern peninsula (Kim 1999).

Remarks: Two distinct subspecies inhabit Far East Asia: one resides in China (H. i. inermis), and the other occurs in Korea (H. i. argyropus). Although recent DNA analysis showed two phylogroups in H. i. argyropus (Koh et al. 2012a), Chinese water deer in Korea have limited geographic variation and morphological differences; therefore, only one subspecies, H. i. argyropus Heude, 1884 has so far been recognized in Korea (Hu et al. 2006, Kim et al. 2011a).

Conservation status: Populations of H. inermis have expanded in recent years, and the species has become a major agricultural pest in South Korea (NIBR 2017). The North Korean government made a habitat for the species at Mt. Guwol, Hwanghaenam Province a Natural Monument. Despite several releases of Chinese water deer by North Korean government, populations remain small due to illegal snaring for bush meat (Dr. William Duckworth, IUCN, Pers. Comm.). The Gwangju Metropolitan government designated this species a Provincially Protected Species in South Korea. The IUCN Red List records the Chinese water deer as ‘Vulnerable’.