Bos grunniens Linnaeus 1766

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Artiodactyla, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 1, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 637-722 : 691

Bos grunniens Linnaeus 1766

Bos grunniens Linnaeus 1766 , Syst. Nat., 12th ed., Vol. 1: 99.

Type Locality: "Habitat in Asia boreali"; "in regno Tibetano" according to Gmelin, in Linnaeus, 1788 ( China, Tibetan Plateau); based on domesticated stock.

Vernacular Names: Yak.

Subspecies: :

Subspecies Bos grunniens subsp. grunniens Linnaeus 1766

Subspecies Bos grunniens subsp. mutus Przewalski 1883

Distribution: China (Gansu, Sichuan, Sinkiang, Tibet including Qinghai), N India (Ladak), and Nepal; apparently in Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and S Russia (Siberia) until 13th to 18th centuries; domesticated in C Asia; feral in China, Inner Mongolia, Helan Mtns ( Wiener et al, 2003).

Conservation: CITES – Appendix I as B. mutus (excluding domesticated form); U.S. ESA – Endangered as B. mutus (= grunniens m.); IUCN – Vulnerable.

Discussion: Includes mutus ; but see Corbet (1978 c:206). Formerly placed in Poephagus . Reviewed by Olsen (1990). Gentry et al. (1996) proposed that majority usage be confirmed by adoption of Bos mutus as the name for the wild taxon of yak, though it has not been demonstrated that most authors have termed the wild yak B. mutus rather than B. grunniens (or B. g. mutus ). Gentry et al. (1996) asked the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature to use its plenary powers to rule that the name for this wild species is not invalid by virtue of being antedated by the name based on the domestic form. A ruling has now been made in their favour ( International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, 2003 a). It may still be valid for those who consider B. grunniens and B. mutus to be conspecific to employ the senior name for the name of the species (see Bock, 1997); here mutus is provisionally treated as a subspecies of grunniens . Domestic and wild yaks have identical mitochondrial haplotypes in the gene fragments tested ( Schaller, 1998). Bos bunelli Frick, 1937 is not a Pleistocene Alaskan yak but a domestic cow ( Guthrie, 1990; Olsen, 1991).