Ursus thibetanus G. Cuvier 1823

Ursus thibetanus G. Cuvier 1823, Rech. Oss. Foss., Nouv. ed., Vol. 4: 325.

Type Locality: "Cet ours a été trouvé d'abord par M. Wallich dans les montagnes du Napaul, et je l'ai rencontré également dans celles du Sylhet" [India, Assam, Sylhet].

Vernacular Names: Asian Black Bear.

Subspecies::

Subspecies Ursus thibetanus subsp. thibetanus G. Cuvier 1823

Subspecies Ursus thibetanus subsp. formosanus Swinhoe 1864

Subspecies Ursus thibetanus subsp. gedrosianus Blanford 1877

Subspecies Ursus thibetanus subsp. japonicus Schlegel 1857

Subspecies Ursus thibetanus subsp. laniger Pocock 1932

Subspecies Ursus thibetanus subsp. mupinensis Heude 1901

Subspecies Ursus thibetanus subsp. ussuricus Heude 1901

Distribution: Afghanistan, China, India, Indochina, Japan, North and? South Korea, Laos, Nepal, Pakistan, Taiwan, Thailand, Russia (SE Primorski Krai), Vietnam.

Conservation: CITES – Appendix I; U. S. ESA – Endangered as U. t. gedrosianus; IUCN – Critically Endangered as U. t. gedrosinus, otherwise Vulnerable.

Discussion: Placed in subgenus Selenarctos by Gromov and Baranova (1981); and in subgenus Euarctos by Thenius (1979). Allen (1938) suggested a close relationship to U. americanus; Pocock (1932 a) retained in a separate genus, there is molecular support for both positions (Goldman et al., 1989). Synonyms allocated according to Ellerman and Morrison-Scott (1951).