Diceros bicornis (Linnaeus 1758)

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Perissodactyla, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 1, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 629-636 : 635

Diceros bicornis (Linnaeus 1758)

[Rhinoceros] bicornis Linnaeus 1758 , Syst. Nat., 10th ed., Vol. 1: 56 .

Type Locality: "Habitat in India ", now identified as South Africa, Western Cape Prov., Cape of Good Hope.

Vernacular Names: Black Rhinoceros.

Synonyms: Diceros cucullatus (Wagner 1835) .

Subspecies: :

Subspecies Diceros bicornis subsp. bicornis Linnaeus 1758

Subspecies Diceros bicornis subsp. brucii Lesson 1842

Subspecies Diceros bicornis subsp. chobiensis Zukowsky 1965

Subspecies Diceros bicornis subsp. longipes Zukowsky 1949

Subspecies Diceros bicornis subsp. michaeli Zukowsky 1965

Subspecies Diceros bicornis subsp. minor Drummond 1876

Distribution: Formerly in S Angola, Botswana, Burundi, N Cameroon, Central African Republic, S Dem. Rep. Congo, S Chad, N Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, SE Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe; possibly more widespread in Niger, extending to Benin and Côte d’Ivoire, within historic times ( Blancou, 1960; Sayer and Green, 1984). Very much reduced in numbers, particularly in recent decades of 20th century, and probably now extinct in many countries which it formerly occupied. Survives in reserves in Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and KwaZulu-Natal ( South Africa), and possibly still in Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, Sudan, Rwanda, Malawi, Mozambique, Angola, and Botswana; widely reintroduced into parts of South Africa ( Cumming et al., 1990).

Conservation: CITES – Appendix I; U.S. ESA – Endangered; IUCN – Vulnerable as D. b. bicornis, Critically Endangered as D. bicornis and subspecifically as D. b. longipes, D. b. michaeli, and D. b. minor.

Discussion: Revised by Groves (1967 b) and Prins (1990). Zukowsky's names are dated 1965 not 1964 ( Rookmaaker, 1983). Reviewed by Hillman-Smith and Groves (1994, Mammalian Species, 455). Rhinoceros kulumane Player, 1972 is referable to Ceratotherium , not Diceros (Ansell, 1989) . The type of Rhinoceros cucullatus Wagner, 1835 has been referred to this species but was regarded as an artefact by Zukowsky (1965).