Equus hemionus Pallas 1775

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 : 632

Equus hemionus Pallas 1775

Equus hemionus Pallas 1775 , Nova Comm. Imp. Acad. Sci. Petropoli, 19: 394.

Type Locality: "ad Lacum Tarei Dauuriae", i.e. Russia, Transbaikalia, S Chitinsk. Obl., Tarei-Nor, 50°N, 115°E.

Vernacular Names: Onager.

Subspecies: :

Subspecies Equus hemionus subsp. hemionus Pallas 1775

Subspecies Equus hemionus subsp. blanfordi Pocock 1947

Subspecies Equus hemionus subsp. hemippus I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire 1855

Subspecies Equus hemionus subsp. khur Lesson 1827

Subspecies Equus hemionus subsp. kulan Groves and Mazák 1967

Subspecies Equus hemionus subsp. luteus Matschie 1911

Subspecies Equus hemionus subsp. onager Boddaert 1785

Distribution: Formerly much of Mongolia, north to Transbaikalia ( Russia); east to NE Inner Mongolia ( China) and possibly W Manchuria ( China); and west to Dzhungarian Gate. Survives in SW and SC Mongolia and adjacent China; see Sokolov and Orlov (1980:248). Also formerly Kazakhstan north to upper Irtysh and Ural Rivers ( Russia); westward north of the Caucasus and Black Sea at least to Dniestr River ( Ukraine); Anatolia, Syria, and SE of Caspian Sea in N Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan to Thar Desert of NW India; survives as isolated populations in Rann of Kutch ( India), Badkhys Preserve, Turkmenistan, and C Iran; also reestablished on Barsa-Khelmes Isl (Aral Sea, Uzbekistan); until 17th-18th centuries in Armenia and Azerbaidjan.

Conservation: CITES – Appendix I as E. h. hemionus , E. onager and E. onager khur ; otherwise Appendix II; U.S. ESA – Endangered; IUCN – Extinct E. h. hemippus, Critically Endangered as E. h. onager and E. h. kulan, Endangered as E. h. khur, Vulnerable as E. hemionus , E. h. hemionus and E. h. luteus.

Discussion: Revised by Groves and Mazák (1967), Groves (1986), and Schlawe (1986), who included onager in hemionus . Bennett (1980) considered onager (including hemippus , khur , and kulan) to be a distinct species. Nominate subspecies is also known by common name Kulan or Dzigetai; luteus doubtfully separable from it. Groves (2003) considered khur as a species separate from E. hemionus .