identifier	taxonID	type	CVterm	format	language	title	description	additionalInformationURL	UsageTerms	rights	Owner	contributor	creator	bibliographicCitation
03DB8789FFAAFFC3FF295856665CF873.text	03DB8789FFAAFFC3FF295856665CF873.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Philantomba walteri Colyn & Hulselmans & Sonet & Oudé & Winter & Natta & Nagy & Verheyen 2010	<div><p>Species description of Philantomba walteri sp. nov.</p><p>(Figures 7–10)</p><p>Type material. Holotype: Complete specimen of a subadult female (RMCA A7.027M0001; field number BE 118), collected by Marc Colyn on 24 January 2006.</p><p>Paratypes: Complete specimen of a subadult female (RMCA A7.027M0002; field number BE 119), collected by Marc Colyn on 24 January 2006. Skulls of four adult females (RBINS 4047, 4048, 4049, 4050; respective field numbers 0561, 1080, 0567, 0733) and two adult males (RBINS 4051, 4052; respective field numbers 0508, 0795).</p><p>Additional specimens: Twenty-nine other skulls of adult specimens from different localities in Benin, three from Togo and one from Nigeria (Appendices 1 &amp; 2).</p><p>Type locality: Igbere (08°59’N 01°57’E), <a href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=1.95&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=8.983334" title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 1.95/lat 8.983334)">Forêt Protégée de Wari-Maro</a> (328 m altitude), near the Ecological Center of Manigri, Benin .</p><p>Etymology: The species is named Walter’s Duiker in honor of the late Walter N. Verheyen (1932–2005), in recognition of his work on African mammals. Moreover, he collected the first specimen at Badou (Togo) in 1968.</p><p>Diagnosis: Philantomba walteri is intermediate in size between the larger P. maxwelli and the smaller P. monticola (Fig. 3). Externally, the new species resembles P. maxwelli because of its relatively long tail (&gt; 15 cm), large pedal gland, a striking superciliary line, the absence of a strongly marked break on the haunches between the dark croup, light colored flanks and lower haunches. The head is clearly less massive and the global silhouette is more slender (Figures 8 and 9). Craniometrically, P.walteri can be differentiated from the two other Philantomba species by a clearly smaller nasal constriction (M14) and cranial height (M29) (Fig. 2). Molecular data indicate that P. walteri is a distinct evolutionary unit compared to its congeners P. maxwelli and P. monticola (K2P divergences of cytb and COI are, between P. walteri and P. maxwelli, 8.3 vs. 4.8%, and between P. walteri and P. monticola, 7.3 vs. 7.5%) (Table 4).</p><p>The conservation status of Philantomba walteri sp. nov. Philantomba walteri has been overlooked by science for decades, because the geographic variation in this group could not be refined without additional material (Grubb &amp; Groves 2005). The first specimen that led to the discovery of P. walteri was collected in November 2003, at the bushmeat market of the la Lama Forest (Fig. 10). Recent surveys confirmed its occurrence in several villages located in the study area of the PAMF project in Agoua, Wari-Maro and the Kouffé Mountains in Benin, where the local authorities spend considerable efforts to safeguard the local biodiversity.</p><p>The discovery of a new species from a well-studied group of animals in the context of bushmeat exploitation is a sobering reminder of the mammalian species that remain to be described, even within those that are being exploited on a daily basis for food or ritual activities (Fig. 10).</p><p>Besides their vulnerability to regional droughts, fires and to global warming, many antelope species occur outside protected areas, where they are even more likely to be killed by local hunters. As a result, a quarter of all antelope species are threatened with extinction, and the status of several species worsened since the last complete assessment of all antelopes in 1996 (IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group, 2009). Although the Blue Duiker and Maxwell’s Duiker have wide distribution ranges, they are exposed to a strong pressure by bushmeat practices. As they are common and easily hunted, they probably remain the most heavily targeted antelope species in forested Africa (Wilson 2005). However, the IUCN Red List considers Blue Duiker and Maxwell’s Duiker populations as “Least Concern”, the first with stable, the second with a decreasing population trend (IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group, 2009). Yet, Maxwell’s Duiker populations in Togo and Nigeria are considered to be vulnerable, and those in Benin are probably threatened (Wilson 2005). As these populations are now described as P. walteri (or Walter’s Duiker), it is imperative to safeguard this new species from uncontrolled harvesting.</p><p>It is surprising that we have discovered a new ungulate in the Dahomey Gap, an area that is generally perceived to be little more than a natural barrier between the Eastern and Western Guinean Forests (Olson &amp; Dinerstein, 1998). This area contains few endemics and most of the species occurring there are generally presumed to belong to the faunas of the richer east and west Guinean forest blocks (Olayemi et al. in press). This may explain the modest scientific interest for the taxonomy of its fauna. The discovery of this new species should stimulate taxonomic and conservation activities in the region. Future conservation strategies should consolidate the already protected areas and land use systems of the region in an ecological context (Bennett et al. 2007). Finally, this report highlights the importance of good taxonomic practice, to avoid the risk that bushmeat statistics are based on deficient taxonomical information.</p></div>	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03DB8789FFAAFFC3FF295856665CF873	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		MagnoliaPress via Plazi	Colyn, Marc;Hulselmans, Jan;Sonet, Gontran;Oudé, Pascal;Winter, Jan De;Natta, Armand;Nagy, Zoltán Tamás;Verheyen, Erik	Colyn, Marc, Hulselmans, Jan, Sonet, Gontran, Oudé, Pascal, Winter, Jan De, Natta, Armand, Nagy, Zoltán Tamás, Verheyen, Erik (2010): Discovery of a new duiker species (Bovidae: Cephalophinae) from the Dahomey Gap, West Africa. Zootaxa 2637 (1): 1-30, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.2637.1.1, URL: https://biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.2637.1.1
