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LIX.—Three races,one new, of the serval(Leptailurus) fromNorth AfricaR.I. Pocock F.R.S. aa Zoological Dept., Natural HistoryMuseum

Version of record first published: 18 Aug2009.

To cite this article: R.I. Pocock F.R.S. (1944): LIX.—Three races, one new,of the serval (Leptailurus) from North Africa , Journal of Natural HistorySeries 11, 11:82, 690-698

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222934408527466

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690 Mr. R. I. i)ocock on

back. One seems to be subtended by a minute scale like a bract (possibly a premature " pinnule ") and another crossed by a t iny fold of tissue. The preservation does not admit of full description of these features, but does show tha t there is something here calling for study.

I t is noteworthy that Thomas (1933) found some similar features in the fructifications Umkomaas ia and Pti lophorosperma, which, he attributed to this or an allied leaf-genus. In discussing these fructifications Thomas raised far-reaching morphological implications by com- paring the whole fossil both with a single " sporophyll " and with an " inflorescence " with branches arising in the axils of bracts, the two views being regarded as compatible. I suspect that this leaf might provide the key to this difficult problem.

W O R K S Q U O T E D .

BRONU~J~RT, A. 1828. ' P r o d r o m e d ' u n e his toire des v6g~ taux fossiles. Paris .

• 1829. (1828-1838). ' His to i re des v 6 g 6 t a u x fossiles. ' Par is . CTOPPERT, H . R . 1836. " Die fossilon f a r rnk r~u te r . " N o v a Ae t a Acad .

Caes. Loop-Car . xvii . Suppl. H a ~ i s , T . M . 1932. " T h e fossil flora o f Scoresby Sound, E a s t Green-

land. P a r t 2." Modd. o m Grcn land , l xxxv . 3. 1935. I b i d . P a r t 4. I b i d cxii. 1. 1937. Ib id . P a r t 5. Ib id cxii. 2.

L~rDLEY, J . , a n d H u t t o n , W. 1834. ' T h e Fossi l F lora o f Grea t Br i t a in . ' Vol. II.

P~n.T.TpS, J. 1829. 'Illustrations of the Geology of Yorkshire.' York.

S E W E D , A . C . 1900. ' C a t a l o g u e o f t h e Mesozoic P lants , Br i t i sh M u s e u m . Ju rass i c F l o r a . - - I . Yorksh i re Coast . ' London .

T~OMAS, H. I t . 1933. " O n s o m e P t e r i d o s p e r m o u s P l a n t s f r om t h e Mesozoic R o c k s o f Sou th Afr ica ." Phil . Trans . Roy . Soc. London , B, ccxxii, p. 193.

L I X . - - T h r e e Races, one new, of the Serval (Leptailurus) f r o m North Afr ica . By 1%. I. POCOCK, F.R.S., Zoolo- gical Dept., Natural History Museum.

EXAMINATIOn" of the specimens of Leptailur~,s in the British Museum has revealed some interesting and pre- viously unrecorded facts connected with the race in- habiting Algeria and with the two races found south of the Sahara, in Senegal, the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and Abyssinia. The geographically isolated Algerian race, now apparently very rare in the country, does not seem hitherto to have been compared critically with those occurring further south in Africa nor to have been dis- tinguished as a named subspecies. The eastward range of

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three Races, one new, of the Serval. t~91

the Senegal race into the Anglo-Egypt ian Sudan has never been previously claimed, and changes have been made in its nomenclature . A new name has been given to the Abyssinian race, because neither of the two names under which it has hi ther to been known is in m y opinion admissible.

Lep ta i lurus serval constant ina Forster. Fell8 constantina Forster, Buffon's lqaturg. Vierfiiss. Thlere, vi. p. 313,

1780, from Buffon, Suppl. Hist. Nat. iii. p. 231, 1776. Fells constan~inensis, Link, Beytr. Naturg. i. pt. 2, p. 91, 1795. Feli~ caracal, fl algircus, J. B. Fischer, Syn. Mature. p. 210, 1829. Feli~ serval, Levaillant, Expl. Sci. de l'A]g6rie, Mature: pl. 2, 1866 ;

Lataste, Act. Soc. Linn. Bord. xxxix, p. 104 (of separate copy), 1885, id.. Expl. Sci. Tunisie, p. 15, 1887.

Lcptailurus ~erval constantina Poeock, Proc. Zool. Soc. cxiv. p. 65, 1944 *

LocalitJ~ of the type of constantina, eonstant inensis and algiricus, Constantine in Algeria.

Dis t r ibu t i on . - -A lger ia and Tunis and possibly Morocco, bu t not ye t recorded f rom t h a t country.

A geographically isolated race characterized by its long, full coat and generally dull, dark colour, the upper side being pale brown with a t mos t a slight huffish tinge but no bright hue, and the underside with compara t ive ly tittle white ; the pa t t e rn consists of bold stripes on the nape and shoulders, narrow but well-defined stripes on the back, and large well-spaced spots on the flanks and below, tha t of the limbs and tail being normal.

There are two skins in the Brit ish Museum. An adul t f rom Oran, in wes t e rn Algeria (Parzudacki, 44.9.2.13), with the coat very full and about 50 mm. long, has the upper side tolerably uniformly palish brown, with a faint buff cast and the lower side, a t least on the belly, pale greyish tawny, passing into soiled white on the axill~e, posterior side of the fore legs, inner side of the thighs and inguinal region; the greater par t of the th roa t is ra ther rich buff, bu t it is white in front, like the chin and upper lip ; the pale band on the ears is normal in size, bu t buffish grey, no t white, in colour ; in the bold pa t t e rn the

• As explained in this paper, Buffon's description, derived from Bruce, of the cat seen by the latter at Constantine, the description upon which Forster based the name constantina, applies neither to the typical wild eat, (Fe~is lybica sarda) of Algeria nor to any breed of domestic cat. Since Buffon's remarks about the pattern agree very closely with the pattern characteristic of the Serval, and since there is no other species of Felid~e inhabiting Algeria to which the name can be assigned, I affix it to the Serval, which has long been known to inhabit that country. The names constantinensis and alairicus were alike based on Buffon's description.

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692 Mr. R. I. Pocock on

normal , par t ia l ly in te r rup ted stripes on the nape and shoulders are about 17 mm. a t thei r widest pa r t ; there are two pairs of pract ical ly un in te r rupted , th inner stripes running f rom the mid-back near ly to the tail, and the spots on the flanks, with a short d iamete r of abou t 17 mm., m a y be up to 40 mm. long but usually less.

A second skin (E. C. Taylor , 1905.5.6.1), f rom Philippe- ville, in eastern Algeria, March, has the coat about as th ick as in the preceding, bu t shorter, abou t 40 mm. ; the general hue of the back and flanks is the same, bu t the outer sides of the thighs, shoulders and fore legs are br ighter and more buffy, the fore legs especially being brightish ochreous and contrast ing not iceably wi th the dull ~reyish- brown t in t of these limbs in the Oran skin * ;' there is a li t t le more white on the lower side, especially on the fore three,t, and the pale pa tch on the back of the ear is whiter bu t much smaller, ex tending only half-way across the ear f rom behind, the black area in f ront of i t being much wider than usual. In no o ther Serval skin t h a t I have seen is the white pa tch so reduced in size. The pa t te rn , too, is not so bold as in the Oran skin, the outer str ipes on the nape and the stripes on the shoulders being abou t 14 mm. wide, and the spots on the flanks have a shor t d iameter of about 14 mm. and are only up to about 28 ram. in their long diameter .

The skulls of an adul t c~ and ~ of approx imate ly the same age are abou t the average size for the genus and differ f rom each other in the well-marked sexual features character is t ic of most genera of the family. The ~ skull (see figure A), belonging to tbe skin f rom Oran above described, has the occipital region broken away, bu t i ts condylobasal length, judging f rom the length of the mandible , which is 86 mm., and o ther data , m a y be es t i - m a t e d at 115 ram. or thereabouts . I t is muscular ly well moulded, with the zygomat ic width, 86 ram., the post- orbi ta l area compressed, 25 mm., abou t hal f the width of the cranium, which is 51 mm., and only a llitle wider t h a n the interorbi ta l area, which is 22 ram. ; the post- orbi ta l processes are expanded, thei r width f rom tip to t ip being 54 ram., a li t t le surpassing the width of t h e eranium ; the tempora l ridges are only 4 ram. apar t a t the suture and coalesce behind it. The tee th are ra the r

• This skin was, formerly mounted, and was exhibited for several yeaxs in the gallery. Hence it is possible that the absence of bright colour in the limbs is due to fadi~.

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three Raee~', one new, o f the Serval . 693

sma l l , p ~ . 4 , b e i n g 14 m m . a n d m 1. l0 m m . long, a n d the: u p p e r c a n i n e l las a b a s a l a n t e r o - p o s t e r i o r t h i c k n e s s o f 7 i n t o .

T h e ~ sku l l , c o m p l e t e , b u t w i t h o u t s k i n ( L a t a s t e , 19.7.7~ 1443), f r o m C a p A o k a s , A l g e r i a , is s h o r t e r t h a n t h e ~ skul l , i t s c o n d y l o b a s a l l e n g t h be ing 108 r a m . , a n d m a i n f e s t l y less

• . ",.° . o " :"

""°°, b . . ' °"

A A. Skull of adult c~ of the Algerian Serva] (Leptailurus 8erval con-

stantina}, from Oran, (Parzudaeki, 46,3.17.17), showing the constricted postorbital area, the wide zygomatic arches and the proximity of the temporal ridges, due to muscular moulding, typical, with variations, of fully adult and old ~ skulls of many species of Felidm. (The broken-away occipital area restored in dotted outline.) Two-thirds nat. size.

B. Skull of an adult ~ of the aame from Cape Aokas (Lataste 19.7.7.1443), showing the wide postorbital area, narrower zygomata, and widely-spaced temporal ridges, due to weaker musculature, typical, with variations, of adult ~ skulls of man~ species of Felid~e. Two-thirds nat. size.

The sexual differences are exceptionally pronounced in these two skails.

m u s c u l a r l y m o u l d e d , t h e z y g o m a t a b e i n g m u c h n a r r o w e r , 77 m m . , t h e p o s t o r b i t a l a r e a m u c h w ide r , 34 ram. , con- s i d e r a b l y m o r e t h a n h a l f t h e c r a n i a l w i d t h , w h i c h is t h e

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694 Mr. R. [. Pocock on

same as in the ~, 51 mm., and greatly exceeding the inter- orbital area, which is 21 ram. ; the postorbital processes a r e much less prominent owing to the less constricted postorbital area, their width from tip to tip being about the same as that of the cranium ; the temporal ridges are 16 mm. apart at the suture and converge and meet on the posterior portion of the parietals, the sagittal crest behind them being 5 mm. high. The bulla is inflated, being 14 mm. high above the oceiput, with a length and width of 25 and 16 ram. respectively. The teeth are a little smaller than in the ~, pro. and m. 1 being 12½ and 10 mm. re- spectively, and the upper canine 6 mm. thick at the base.

Leptailurus 8erval tan~, subsp, nov. Fells capem~ hindel, De Beaux, Att i Soc. Ital . Sci. Nat. p. 26, 1922

(not of Wroughton, Ann. & Mag..Nat. Hist. (8) v .p . 205, 1910). Feli~ capen~is phillipsi, l~ershaw, Ann.& Mag. Nat. Hist. (9) xiii. p. 27,

1924 (not of G. M. Allen, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. lviii, p. 337, 1914). Feli8 (Leptail~rrus) aerval phiUipsi, De Beaux, Att i Soc. Ital. Sci. Nat .

lxiv. p. 211, 1925.

Locality of the type, Bahr dar Giorgis, Lake Tana, Abysinnia, 5500-5600 feet.

Distribution.--Abyssinia, Erythr~ea and North Somali- land.

Most nearly resembling a~d intergrading with the typical Serval of Kenya Colony, described by Wroughton as hindei, especially in its bold pattern of stripes on the nape and shoulders and large, well-spaced spots on the flanks; but distinguished on the average by the paler ground- colour of the flanks, which is more creamy and not so buff.

The type of this race, an adult, but not old, male, from Bahr dar Giorgis, west of Lake Tana (T. P. Mitchell, 23.3.26.7), June 5th, has the summer coat full and about 40 mm. long. The nape and shoulders are very pale bufflsh cream, the spinal area behind the shoulders dark buflish grey and rather sharply contrasted with the cream tint of the flanks, which blends with the white of the lower side; the outer sides of the thighs and shoulders are like the flanks, but the rest of the limbs are greyish white and the hind throat is creamy. The general colour is so pale that the skin looks almost white alongside n~rmal buff-coloured skins. The pattern is strong, the outer nape-stripe on one side being about 160 mm. long and 20 ram. wide at the widest par t ; the shoulder-

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three Rac~, one new, of the Serval. 695

stripes are equally well developed, one of them being 140 ram. long and 17 mm. wide ; on the middle of the back there are three small spinal stripes only to a slight extent interrupted; the spots on the flanks are large, their diameters being up to 35 by 15 ram. in front and 25 by 12 ram. behind ; the pattern on the head, tail, limbs, throat and the rest of the lower side is rather unusually well developed.

A second adult, rather older, ~, from the Lake Tans district (R. E. Cheesman, 37.2.24.27), is undated and has the coat about the same as in the type, but differs in having the head, nape, shoulders, spinal areas and outer side of the legs more richly tinted, buff instead of buffish cream; the flanks too are not quite so pale, although contrasted with the spinal area; the pattern also is not so bold, the outer nape-stripe being about 15 mm. wide at its widest and the shoulder-stripes narrower, about 10 mm. wide, but the longest about 154 mm. ; the spinal stripes are a little more discontinuous and the flank-spots are from about 35 to 25 mm. long and 20 ram. wide.

A third skin (P. L. Cox, 94.12.13.1), from North Somali- land, is an almost exact match of Cheesman's skin in colour but has the pattern bolder, almost as in the type apart from minute details.

The character of the pattern has been described in some detail in the two skins from Lake Tans to justify setting aside the opinion of Kershaw, who identified the type as phillipsi, but noted its paler colour, and of De Beaux, who, influenced apparently by Kershaw, assigned skins from Erythrma and from Gondar and Shoa in Abyssinia to G. M. Allen's race, stating tha t a skin from Shoa seemed to agree closely with Allen's description ofphillipsi.

The type of phillipsi, an adult ~7 from El Garef, on the Blue Nile, was described by Allen as a rather pale skin, buff in colour above, with the normal stripes on the nape; of which the widest is only 10 mm., breaking up into spots on the hinder part of the nape, with the normal shoulder-stripes also broken up into elongated spots, of which the largest is 50 ram. long and 10 ram. wide, and with the body behind the shoulders uniformly spotted, without any semblance of stripes, the spots being from 10 to 15 mm. in diameter. From this it is clear tha t the pattern is not only much finer, but much more disrupted, than in the two skins .from Lake Tans ; but no doubt the two races intergrade.

Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Set. 1"1. [Tot. xi. 49

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696 M r . R . I . Pocoek on

From its locality and low-lying habitat it may be reasonably inferred that phillipsi is more akin to the Serval of other districts of the Egyptian Sudan than to the one inhabiting the Lake Tana district of Abyssinia. The British Museum has three skins of the Sudanese type. One from the White Nile (Parzudacki, 59.6.19.1) has the coat thin and short, only 24 mm. long, and is pale buff above ; the nape and shoulder-stripes are normal in con- t inuity but narrow, about 8 and 10 ram. wide respectively ; the three spinal stripes are complete a~d the flank-spots are elongated, being from about 20 to 25 mm. long and about 8 mm. wide. A second skin, from Khartoum (S. S. Flower, 5.10.5.8), has the coat as in the last but is brighter buff; its pattern is very nearly the same, although the flank-spots are a little shorter. These two skins differ from the type ofphillipsi in the comparative completeness of the stripes on the shoulders and spine; but they are indis- tinguishable from the Senegal race, brachyura*, which on this evidence extends right across the Southern Sahara. The third skin (D. L. Baxter and S. S. Flower, 21.4.18.1), from E1 Obeid in Southern Kordofan, is richer buff than the preceding two, and in the disruption of its dorsal pattern agrees closely with Allen's description of phillipsi, the normal stripes on the shoulders and spine being broken up into a number of spots, there being no stripes behind the shoulders. There is very little doubt tha t this is only a variation of the pattern exhibited by the skins from the White Nile and Khartoum. Hence it follows tha t phillipsi, if admitted as a race, can only be regarded as an extreme eastern form of the typical West African [.. s. brachyura, the type of which was shipped from Sierra Leone.

I t may be noted tha t the coat of the skin from El Obeid is only 32 mm. in mid-winter, December 29th,

* This name, the oldest of the five given to the Serval of Senegal, Sierra Leone and adjoining districts of West Africa, was proposed by Wagner in 1841 as a substitute for the preoccupied name 8erva/ina, applied by Ogilby in 1839 to the skin of a Serval from Sierra Leone, w h i c h differed strikingly from the normal type in the disintegration and partial evanescence of the pattern. The two styles of pattern, with variations, are found practically all o v e r Africa south of the Sahara, frequently in the same locality. Although as lately as 1924 they w e r e mostly regarded as of specific significance, I asserted in 1917 (Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (8) xx. p. 337) that there is but one species of Serval, t h e so-called" servaline cats " " being merely pattern-phases or mutants of th e normal type. Since that date considerably more evidence in confirmation o f t h a t conclusion has c o m e to tumd.

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three Races, one new, of the Serval. 697

noticeably shorter and thinner than the midsummer skin of the type of tanx.

There is also some evidence tha t the skull of tanse is a little longer than in phillipsi. According to Allen, the basal length of the skull of the type of the latter, an adult ~, was 102 mm., which would make the condylobasal length 110 mm. In the type of tanEe, also an adult ~, those dimensions are respectively 106 and 114 ram., whereas in the older skull of Cheesman's specimen they are 109 and 117 mmo, their total lengths being 122 and 127 mm. respectively. The only adult skull measured by De Beaux, one from Erythr~ea, had a basal length of 99 and a condylobasal length of 1051 mm., but he gave its total length as 126 mm. This must have been a misprint for 116, since in no Serval does the total length exceed the condylo- basal length by as much as 19 or 20 mm. No doubt his Erythrman skull was that of a 9-

The skulls of my specimens from the White Nile, Khartoum and El Obeid are immature, and there are no adult ~ skulls of typical brachyura available. But the condylobasal length in five .~ skulls from Sierra Leone and Senegal ranges from 102 to 108 mm., the average being 105 mm., which is quite in keeping with the view that phillipsi, with a ~ condylobasal length of 110 mm., represents the same race.

As stated above under the diagnosis, the three skins I assign to this new local race closely resemble the Serval of Kenya Colony, quoted as hindei, the pattern being practically the same but the ground-colour of the flanks paler on the average. I t is noticeably paler than in the type and a topotype of hindei from Machakos, which are buff all over the upper side ; but an adult skin from Solai, Mt. Kenya, 8000 ft (R. Kemp, 11.4.7.15), December, is exceptionally pale, hardly differing from Cheesman's skin from Lake Tana. Stil paler, and closely matching the type of tanx from Bahr dar Giorgis, Lake Tana, is a skin from Arusha in the KiJimanjaro district (S. P. Teare, 35.3.14.6). These are two items of evidence of intergradation between the Abyssinian and the Kenya Servals. A third is supplied by a skin from Ogo, British Somaliland (R. E. Drake- Brockman, 34.9.14.17), which in pattern and colour is indistinguishable from the prevalent Kenya form.

There is no convincing evidence tha t the skulls of the 4byssinian Servals differ from those of Kenya Colony. The available material merely suggests that the former

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698 Mr. G. E. Bryant o n

may possibly be a trifle larger on the average. The condylobasal lengths in the two ~ skulls from Lake Tana are l l4 and 117 ram., the average being 115~, whereas adult ~ skulls from Kenya vary from 111 to 116 mm., the average of six being 113½. The fragmentary skull belonging to the skin from North Somaliland is represented only by its facial portion. I t is obviously tha t of an adult ~, and its details agree very closely with those of the type of tana~.

LX.--New Species of South American Chrysomelidm (Halticinze, Col.) By G. E. BRYANT, F.R.E.S., Imperial Institute of Entomology.

ALL the types of the following new species are in the British Museum (Natural History).

Systena fryi, sp. n. (Fig. 1.) Flavous, the prothorax with large round punctures and

a median longitudinal fuscous stripe, the elytra strongly punctate-striate and carinate between the stri~e, a short fuscous marking between the shoulders and suture, the suture narrowly fuseous, and a curved fuscous marking just behind the middle.

Length 3 mm. Head flavous, with a short median fuscous longitudinal

marking at the base, a few large scattered punctures, and the eyes rather prominent. Antennm flavous, extending beyond the base of the elytra, the first segment the longest, twice as long as the second, the remaining segments slightly pubescent. Prothorax flavous, with a median longitudinal narrow fuscous stripe, transverse, the sides slightly contracted to the base, the punctures large and close, clothed with fine short pubescence. Scutellum triangular, fuscous, impuncate. Elytra elongate, the sides rounded to the apex, flavous, with fuscous markings, one short longitudinal fuscous marking between the shoulder and suture curving in towards the suture, the suture narrowly margined with fuscous, and a fuscous semicircular marking just behind the middle, very strongly punctate-striate and earinate between the stri~e. Legs fiavous. Underside with the ventral segments of the ,abdomen flavous and all about equal.

BRAZIL : Rio de Janerio (Alexander Fry), 3 specimens,

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