Alces americanus Clinton 1822

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 : 653

Alces americanus Clinton 1822

Alces americanus Clinton 1822 , Letters on the natural history … of New York: 193.

Type Locality: "Country north of Whitestown". USA, New York, probably in the western Adirondack region.

Vernacular Names: Moose.

Subspecies: :

Subspecies Alces americanus subsp. americanus Clinton 1822

Subspecies Alces americanus subsp. cameloides Milne-Edwards 1867

Distribution: Russia (E Siberia), east of the Yenisei River east to Anadyr region (E Siberia) and south to N Mongolia and N China (N of Inner Mongolia and Manchuria). N America in Canada and N USA (including Alaska); introduced to New Zealand where now extinct.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (nt) as A. alces cameloides .

Discussion: Subspecies limits follow Geist (1998). Characters diagnosing species not fully confirmed for cameloides. Cervus americanus Clinton, 1822 is preoccupied by Cervus americanus Erxleben, 1777 (= Odocoileus virginianus ), a name used in the literature that has not been declared to be unavailable. It is probably a nomen oblitum and the familiar name Alces americanus (Clinton, 1822) continues to be used here. Cervus coronatus Lesson, 1827 (= C. coronatus É. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1803), based on a single rack, is usually cited as a synonym of Alces alces but is reputedly from America. It is much too small to be a Moose (C. H. Smith, 1827), and is possibly an aberrant Rangifer tarandus , according to Blyth (1860).