旋角牛

哺乳动物物种

旋角牛學名Pseudonovibos spiralis)是柬埔寨越南的一種牛科動物,也是旋角牛屬的唯一已知物種,由於實証不足,其真實性至今存疑。

旋角牛
旋角牛的角
科學分類 編輯
界: 動物界 Animalia
門: 脊索動物門 Chordata
綱: 哺乳綱 Mammalia
目: 偶蹄目 Artiodactyla
科: 牛科 Bovidae
亞科: 牛亞科 Bovinae
族: 牛族 Bovini
屬: 旋角牛屬 Pseudonovibos
種:
旋角牛 P. spiralis
二名法
Pseudonovibos spiralis
Peter and Feiler, 1994

特徵

旋角牛最初被認為是像動物,有着一對長約45厘米及扭曲的角,身上有斑點。

名稱

旋角牛的柬埔寨名字「kting voar」最初被西方譯為「叢林綿羊」,故被誤會是一種與有關的動物。這個柬埔寨名字事實上是「角像籐一般的野牛」。由於混淆,越南曾有報告稱牠們在當地的為名字「羚羊」,但其實那是當地人對鬣羚的稱呼。

旋角牛的學名Pseudonovibos spiralis」並不有效,因為其完模標本其實是一隻家牛,而此學名的字面意思正好是「有旋角的偽家牛」。

爭議

最初支持旋角牛存在的證據是沃爾夫岡·皮特(Wolfgang Peter)在胡志明市市場購來的一些角。[1] 皮特認為這些角屬於一個新的物種[2]

由於沒有解剖資料,旋角牛的種系發生學地位不明。皮特等人建議將旋角牛分類到羚羊族[1],但從形態分析卻指牠們應屬於牛族[3][4][5],更有學者認為是羊族[6]遺傳學分析卻造成了更混淆的結果。[7][8][9][10] 不過這些DNA明顯是受到了污染。[11][12][13] 所有相信是屬於旋角牛及用來進行DNA測試的標本,其實都是人工製成的家牛牛角。[12][14]

懷疑者都認為旋角牛隻是傳說的動物,但也有學者認為傳說的本身可能代表着一種野生牛族的存在。[5][15] 若後者是真的,旋角牛應是十分瀕危或甚至已經滅絕

參考

  1. ^ 1.0 1.1 Peter, W.P., Feiler, A. Horns of an unknown bovid species from Vietnam (Mammalia: Ruminantia). Faun. Abh. Mus. Tierkd. Dresden. 1994a, 19: 247–53. 
  2. ^ Peter, W.P., Feiler, A. A new bovid species from Vietnam and Cambodia (Mammalia: Ruminantia). Zool. Abh. Mus. Tierkd. Dresden. 1994b, 48: 169–76. 
  3. ^ Dioli M. A clarification about the morphology of the horns of the female kouprey: a new unknown bovid species from Cambodia. Mammalia. 1995, 59: 663–7. 
  4. ^ Dioli, M. Notes on the morphology of the horns of a new artiodactyl mammal from Cambodia: Pseudonovibos spiralis. J. Zool. (Lond.). 1997, 241: 527–31. 
  5. ^ 5.0 5.1 Timm, R.M. & Brandt, J.H. Pseudonovibos spiralis (Artiodactyla: Bovidae): new information on this enigmatic South-east Asian ox. J. Zool., Lond. 2001, 253: 157–66. 
  6. ^ Nadler, T. Was ist Pseudonovibos spiralis?. Zool. Garten N.F. 1997, 67: 290–2. 
  7. ^ Hammer, S.E., Suchentrunk, F., Tiedemann, R., Hartl, G.B., Feiler, A. Mitochondrial DNA sequence relationships of the newly described enigmatic Vietnamese bovid, Pseudonovibos spiralis. Naturwissenschaften. 1999, 86: 279–80. 
  8. ^ Kuznetsov, G.V., Kulikov, E.E., Petrov, N.B., Ivanova, N.V., Lomov, A.A., Kholodova, M.V., Poltaraus, A.B. The "linh duong" Pseudonovibos spiralis (Mammalia, Artiodactyla) is a new buffalo. Naturwissenschaften. 2001a, 88: 123–5. 
  9. ^ Kuznetsov, G.V., Kulikov, E.E., Petrov, N.B., Ivanova, N.V., Lomov, A.A., Kholodova, M.V., Poltaraus, A.B. Taxonomic status and phylogenetic relations of the new genus and species Pseudonovibos spiralis W.P. Peter, A. Feiler, 1994 (Artiodactyla, Bovidae). Zoologičeskij Žurnal. 2001b, 80 (11): 1395–403. 
  10. ^ Kuznetsov, G.V., Kulikov, E.E., Petrov, N.B., Ivanova, N.V., Lomov, A.A., Kholodova, M.V., Poltaraus, A.B. Mitochondrial 12S rDNA sequence relationships suggest that the enigmatic bovid "linh duong" Pseudonovibos spiralis is closely related to buffalo. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 2002, 23 (1): 91–4. 
  11. ^ Hassanin, A., Douzery, E. Is the newly described bovid, Pseudonovibos spiralis, a chamois (genus Rupicapra)?. Naturwissenschaften. 2000, 87: 122–4. 
  12. ^ 12.0 12.1 Hassanin, A. Ancient specimens and DNA contamination: a case study from the 12S rRNA gene sequence of the "linh duong" bovid (Pseudonovibos spiralis). Naturwissenschaften. 2002, 89: 107–10. 
  13. ^ Olson, L. E. and Hassanin A. Contamination and chimerism are perpetuating the legend of the snake-eating cow with twisted horns (Pseudonovibos spiralis): A case study of the pitfalls of ancient DNA. Mol. Phylogenetics. Evol. 2003, 27 (2): 545–8. 
  14. ^ Hassanin, A., Seveau, A., Thomas, H., Bocherens, H., Billiou, D. and Nguyen, B.X. Evidence from DNA that the mysterious 'linh duong' (Pseudonovibos spiralis) is not a new bovid. Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences Série III Sciences de la Vie. 2001, 324: 71–80. 
  15. ^ Brandt, J. H., Dioli, M., Hassanin, A., Melville, R. A., Olson, L. E., Seveau, A., and Timm, R. M. Debate on the authenticity of Pseudonovibos spiralis as a new species of wild bovid from Vietnam and Cambodia. Journal of Zoology. 2001, 255: 437–44.