Ovis musimon Pallas, 1811 . Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat., 1:230.

TYPE LOCALITY: Italy, Sardinia .

DISTRIBUTION: Originally restricted to islands of Sardinia and Corsica; probably Cyprus. Widely introduced into Europe.

COMMENT: The status of the Cyprian wild sheep, ophion, is controversial. It was allocated to O. orientalis (= aries) by Ellerman and Morrison-Scott, 1951:418, and Gromov and Baranova, 1981:406, but provisionally assigned to musimon by Nadler et al., 1973, Z. Saugetierk., 38: 119. Payne, 1968, Proc. Prehist. Soc., 34:368-384, considered musimon and ophion to be primitive feral stocks of domesticated O. aries . See also comment under aries .

ISIS NUMBER: 5301419009041004001.