Caracal caracal (Schreber, 1776)

W. Christopher Wozencraft, 1993, Order Carnivora, Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition), Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 279-348 : 288-289

Caracal caracal (Schreber, 1776) . Die Säugethiere, 3(16):pl. 110 (1776]; text 3(24):413, 587(1777).

TYPE LOCALITY: "Vorgebirge der guten Hofnung", restricted by Allen (1924:281) to "Table Mountain, near Cape Town, South Africa " .

DISTRIBUTION: Aden, Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Arabia, Botswana, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kenya, Kuwait, Libya, Malawi, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Pakistan, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, Zimbabwe. See Stuart (1984) for distribution and status information.

STATUS: CITES - Appendix I as Felis caracal (Asian population); otherwise, Appendix II; IUCN - Rare as F. c. michaelis.

SYNONYMS: aharonii Matschie, 1912; algira Wagner, 1841; bengalensis Fischer, 1829 ; berberorum Matschie, 1892; coloniae Thomas, 1926; corylinus Matschie, 1912; damarensis Roberts, 1926; limpopoensis Roberts, 1926; lucani Rochebrune, 1885; medjerdae Matschie, 1912; melanotis Gray, 1843 ; michaelis Heptner, 1945; nubicus Fischer, 1829; poecilotis Thomas and Hinton, 1921; roothi Roberts, 1926; schmitzi Matschie, 1912; spatzi Matschie, 1912.

COMMENTS: Allen (1924) discussed the authority and the type locality. Several recent studies ( Groves, 1982a; Krâl and Zima, 1980) emphasized the closeness of this taxon to Felis and the separation of it from Lynx (sensu Simpson, 1945) . Weigel (1961), Hemmer (1978), and Werdelin (1981), placed caracal in the monotypic Caracal (= Urolynchus of Kratochvll, 1982c) followed here.