Barking Deer| Journals
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DSG Newsletter - April, 2015
Possible occurrence of Mnntincus gongslinnensis in Dibang Valley district of Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast India
Ambika Aiyadurai and Ananta Meme
Abstract
In January 2013, photographs were taken by the second author of two dead muntjacs in Dibang Valley district, Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast India which appear most likely to be Muntiacus gongshanensis. The photographs showed diagnostic feature of a blackish upper tail, absence of prominent tuft on the forehead in thc malc and the female appears to have small tufts at the side of the forehead which distinguish the species on the basis of tail colour from 4f miiriJa/r sensulofo, and 4/. crinifi’ons and 4/. feae on the basis of hair tufts. 4/. monlantis cannot be completely ruled out, but is highly unlikely on the basis of range, whilst M. ree sesi has a paler upper tail, 4/ atherodes a dark forehead and neither species has tufling in the female. M. vuquangensis differs in tail, antler and tutting characteristics. This leaves animals in the M. rooseveltoruiii group of species, which however are currently poorly understood. Within this group some animals ostensibly lack tufts on the forehead of the male and some have blackish tails, although no male animals with both these features have yet been recorded and some females have tufling and dark tails. This is the second report of this species from India. 1/ gongshanensis has only recently been found in Arunachal Pradesh and in Nagaland. Outside India, M. gongshanensis is reported from North Myanmar, China/South East Tibet and West Yunnan.
Resumen
Fueron tomadas, por eI segundo autor en enero de 2013, las fotografias de dos de los muntjacs muertos en el distrito Dibang Valley, Arunachal Pradesh, noreste de la India, que podrian tener mayor probabilidad be ser Miinliacus inangshanensis. Las fotografias mostraban caracteristicas diagnosticas cola superior negruzca, ausencia de mechones prominente en la frente en el macho y en la hembra hay pequenos mechones cn la parte dc la frente los cuales distinguen a 1as especies sobre la base del color de la cola de M. inimgak sensulato y M. ci’inifrons y 4/. feae sobre la base de mechones de peto. 4/ montanus no se puede descartar por completo, pero es muy poco probable, mientras que 4/. ree vest tiene tina cola superior mas palida, M. af£erodes la frente osctira y ninguna de las especies tiene formacion de nudos en la hembra. M. vuquangensis difiere en las caracteristicas de la cola, cornamenta y mechones. Esto deja a los animales en e1 grupo M. rooseveltoi’iim de especies, que son actualmente poco conocidos. Dentro de este grupo algunos animales aparentemente carecen de mechones en la frente de los hombres y algunos tienen cola negruzcas, aunqiie no hay animales machos aun no se han registrado estas caracteristicas y algunas hembras tienen formacion de nudos y colas oscuras. Este es el segundo informe de esta especie en la India. M. gongshanensis he sido encontrado recientemente en Arunachal Pradesh y en Nagaland. Fuera de la India, M. gongshanensis se informo desde el norte de Myanmar, China / Sureste de Tibet y el oeste de Yunnan.
Key words: Gongshan muntjac, lv/tintiacus gongshanensis, Arunachal Pradesh, Dibang Valley, Mishmi hills, India
Introduction
There are 12 species of Miintjacs presently in the world according to the lUCN red data list (IUCN 20 14), out of which, three are found in India. The most common and widespread is the red muntjac (Muntiaciis inunljak) (M. yaginalis in the IUCN Red List), the other two species have been reported only recently from the region. The Gongshan muntjac, M. gongshanensis was reported from the Mishmi hills of Arunachal Pradesh (Choudhiiry 2003, Choiidhury 2009) and the leaf muntjac M. yufaoensis was reported in 2003 from Namdapha National Park in Arunachal Pradesh (Datta et ml. 2003).
There is considerable confusion that arose from the application of the name ’M. criai/i ons’ in a series of papers in the late 1990s (c.g. Rabinowitz el al. i998, Amato et ml. (1999) which considered M. gongshanensis to be junior synonym of >/ cilnifrons, because no significant differences were detected in a small amount of mitochondrial DNA analyzed; there was no discussion of morphological ditterences between these two taxa. M. ci’inffrons was reported from Namdapha National Park in Arunachal Pradesh (Datta 2003), but the authors made no mention of M. gongshanensis. A new book on field guide to Indian mammals also refers to Gongshan muntjac and Black muntjac as the same species (Menon 2014). The situation has been complicated by the report that muntjacs with ‘black’ pelage have recently been observed in 2013 from Darjeeling, India, according to a newspaper article (Mukherjee 2013); the article speculates that these are most likely melanistic muntjac, but also could be M. ci’inifrons or Lvl. gongshanensis. In fact it is most likely that these Darjeeling animals are melanistic M. muntjal, as has been previously reported (Inglis 1952).
Possible occurrence of Mnntincus gongslinnensis in Dibang Valley district of Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast India
Ambika Aiyadurai and Ananta Meme
Abstract
In January 2013, photographs were taken by the second author of two dead muntjacs in Dibang Valley district, Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast India which appear most likely to be Muntiacus gongshanensis. The photographs showed diagnostic feature of a blackish upper tail, absence of prominent tuft on the forehead in thc malc and the female appears to have small tufts at the side of the forehead which distinguish the species on the basis of tail colour from 4f miiriJa/r sensulofo, and 4/. crinifi’ons and 4/. feae on the basis of hair tufts. 4/. monlantis cannot be completely ruled out, but is highly unlikely on the basis of range, whilst M. ree sesi has a paler upper tail, 4/ atherodes a dark forehead and neither species has tufling in the female. M. vuquangensis differs in tail, antler and tutting characteristics. This leaves animals in the M. rooseveltoruiii group of species, which however are currently poorly understood. Within this group some animals ostensibly lack tufts on the forehead of the male and some have blackish tails, although no male animals with both these features have yet been recorded and some females have tufling and dark tails. This is the second report of this species from India. 1/ gongshanensis has only recently been found in Arunachal Pradesh and in Nagaland. Outside India, M. gongshanensis is reported from North Myanmar, China/South East Tibet and West Yunnan.
Resumen
Fueron tomadas, por eI segundo autor en enero de 2013, las fotografias de dos de los muntjacs muertos en el distrito Dibang Valley, Arunachal Pradesh, noreste de la India, que podrian tener mayor probabilidad be ser Miinliacus inangshanensis. Las fotografias mostraban caracteristicas diagnosticas cola superior negruzca, ausencia de mechones prominente en la frente en el macho y en la hembra hay pequenos mechones cn la parte dc la frente los cuales distinguen a 1as especies sobre la base del color de la cola de M. inimgak sensulato y M. ci’inifrons y 4/. feae sobre la base de mechones de peto. 4/ montanus no se puede descartar por completo, pero es muy poco probable, mientras que 4/. ree vest tiene tina cola superior mas palida, M. af£erodes la frente osctira y ninguna de las especies tiene formacion de nudos en la hembra. M. vuquangensis difiere en las caracteristicas de la cola, cornamenta y mechones. Esto deja a los animales en e1 grupo M. rooseveltoi’iim de especies, que son actualmente poco conocidos. Dentro de este grupo algunos animales aparentemente carecen de mechones en la frente de los hombres y algunos tienen cola negruzcas, aunqiie no hay animales machos aun no se han registrado estas caracteristicas y algunas hembras tienen formacion de nudos y colas oscuras. Este es el segundo informe de esta especie en la India. M. gongshanensis he sido encontrado recientemente en Arunachal Pradesh y en Nagaland. Fuera de la India, M. gongshanensis se informo desde el norte de Myanmar, China / Sureste de Tibet y el oeste de Yunnan.
Key words: Gongshan muntjac, lv/tintiacus gongshanensis, Arunachal Pradesh, Dibang Valley, Mishmi hills, India
Introduction
There are 12 species of Miintjacs presently in the world according to the lUCN red data list (IUCN 20 14), out of which, three are found in India. The most common and widespread is the red muntjac (Muntiaciis inunljak) (M. yaginalis in the IUCN Red List), the other two species have been reported only recently from the region. The Gongshan muntjac, M. gongshanensis was reported from the Mishmi hills of Arunachal Pradesh (Choudhiiry 2003, Choiidhury 2009) and the leaf muntjac M. yufaoensis was reported in 2003 from Namdapha National Park in Arunachal Pradesh (Datta et ml. 2003).
There is considerable confusion that arose from the application of the name ’M. criai/i ons’ in a series of papers in the late 1990s (c.g. Rabinowitz el al. i998, Amato et ml. (1999) which considered M. gongshanensis to be junior synonym of >/ cilnifrons, because no significant differences were detected in a small amount of mitochondrial DNA analyzed; there was no discussion of morphological ditterences between these two taxa. M. ci’inffrons was reported from Namdapha National Park in Arunachal Pradesh (Datta 2003), but the authors made no mention of M. gongshanensis. A new book on field guide to Indian mammals also refers to Gongshan muntjac and Black muntjac as the same species (Menon 2014). The situation has been complicated by the report that muntjacs with ‘black’ pelage have recently been observed in 2013 from Darjeeling, India, according to a newspaper article (Mukherjee 2013); the article speculates that these are most likely melanistic muntjac, but also could be M. ci’inifrons or Lvl. gongshanensis. In fact it is most likely that these Darjeeling animals are melanistic M. muntjal, as has been previously reported (Inglis 1952).
