Lutra lutra (Linnaeus, 1758)

W. Christopher Wozencraft, 1993, Order Carnivora, Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition), Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 279-348 : 312

Lutra lutra (Linnaeus, 1758) . Syst. Nat., 10th ed., 1:45.

TYPE LOCALITY: "Europae aquis dulcibus, fluviis, flagnis, piscinis," subsequently restricted by Thomas (1911a) to " Upsala " ( Sweden) .

DISTRIBUTION: Eurasia (excl. tundra and desert): Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Laos, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mongolia, Morocco, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tunisia, Turkey, republics of the former USSR, Vietnam, and Yugoslavia.

STATUS: CITES - Appendix I; IUCN - Vulnerable as L. I. lutra .

SYNONYMS: amurensis Dybowski, 1922; angustifrons Lataste, 1885 ; aureventer Blyth, 1863; aurobrunneus Hodgson, 1839 ; baicalensis Dybowski, 1922 ; barang F. G. Cuvier, 1823 ; ceylonica Pohle, 1920; chinensis Gray, 1837 ; fluviatilis Leach, 1816 ; hanensis Matschie, 1907 ; indica Gray, 1837 ; intermedia Pohle, 1920 ; japonica Nehring, 1887 ; kamtschatica Dybowski, 1922; kutab Schinz, 1844 ; murinus Billberg, 1827; meridonalis Ognev, 1931; monticolus Hodgson, 1839 ; nair F. G. Cuvier, 1823 ; nepalensis Gray, 1865 ; nippon Imaizumi and Yoshiyuki, 1989 ; nudipes Melchior, 1834 ; oxiana Birula, 1915; piscatoria Kerr, 1792; roensis Ogilby, 1834 ; seistanica Birula, 1912; sinensis Trouessart, 1897 ; splendida Cabrera, 1906; stejnegeri Goldman, 1936 ; vulgaris Erxleben, 1777 ; whiteleyi Gray, 1867 .

COMMENTS: Imaizumi and Yoshiyuki (1989) considered Japanese otters a distinct species (L. nippon ).