Red gazelle

The red gazelle (Eudorcas rufina) was thought to be an extinct species of gazelle. It was formerly considered a member of the genus Gazella within the subgenus Eudorcas before Eudorcas was promoted to a full genus. It was thought to have lived in the better-watered mountain areas of North Africa rather than in deserts, because of the rich colouring on the coat.

There are no records of the red gazelle in the wild.^[2] It is known from three specimens purchased in markets in Algiers and Oran, northern Algeria, in the late nineteenth century. They are held in museums in Paris and London. Some authorities, such as Jonathan Kingdon, consider that it was a subspecies of the red-fronted gazelle (E. rufifrons or G. rufifrons).^[3] In 2008 K. de Smet reported that one of the three specimens had proved on examination to be G. rufifrons, leading the IUCN Red List to revise its assessment of the species from Extinct to Data Deficient on the basis of doubts as to the validity of the taxon.^[2]

Footnotes

1. ^ Grubb, Peter (16 November 2005). "Eudorcas rufina". In Wilson, Don E., and Reeder, DeeAnn M., eds. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols. (2142 pp.). ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494. http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3/browse.asp?id=14200547. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group (2008). "Eudorcas rufina". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.1. International Union for Conservation of Nature. http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/8974. Retrieved 21 August 2011. 
3. ^ Kingdon, Jonathan (1997). The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals. San Diego: Academic Press. pp. 411–412. ISBN 0-12-408355-2. 

Further reading