CORRECT NOMENCLATURE FOR SIERRA NEVADA BIGHORN SHEEP

摘要

Based on four specimens, Grinnell (1912) recognized bighorn sheep from the Sierra Nevada of California as a distinct subspecies, Ovis cervina (= canadensis) sierrae, and designated a 5 year-old male as the type specimen. In his revision of the taxonomy of North American sheep, Cowan (1940:556) did not recognize sierrae as a valid subspecies. While he acknowledged uncertainties about the taxonomic position of bighorn sheep inhabiting the Sierra Nevada, he listed and mapped them as belonging to O. c. californiana. Subsequent authors (Jones 1950, Hall and Kelson 1959, Manville 1980, Shackleton 1985) similarly have included bighorn sheep from the Sierra Nevada as 0. c. californiana.