Gazella bilkis (Queen of Sheba's Gazelle)

[Melanie]

The taxon is known only from five specimens collected in 1951 in mountains near Ta’izz, where it was reportedly common at the time. There have been no subsequent specimens, sightings or reports, and surveys in the area of former occurrence have failed to find any sign of its presence (Mallon and Al Safadi 2001). There are no specimens in captivity.

[Peter]

From: The Extinction Website - Info Page - Queen of Sheba’s Gazelle:

It was reported as very common in 1951. In the same year some specimens were collected, which are deposited in the collection of the Chicago Field Museum of Natural History. There has been no further information obtained since 1951. A survey of the area in 1992 failed to find the animal and local reports suggest that the species has not been seen in the area for several decades.

Harrison (1991) considered Gazella bilkis to be extinct and that view is still repeated by the IUCN Antelope Specialist Group in their recent (2001) Global Survey and Regional Action Plan for Antelopes, Part 4: North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. The Queen of Sheba's gazelle was formally declared extinct in the 1999 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals.

Has the Queen of Sheba’s Gazelle been rediscovered?

The right-hand photograph above is possible showing a pair of Queen of Sheba's gazelles in Al Wabra Wildlife Farm in Qatar. (Photographed by Chris Furley, about 1985.)The animals at this private collection in Qatar could be the real Gazella bilkis, but this still need to be checked by genetic study.

It remains to be seen if the Gazella bilkis from the original collection in Yemen, which are now in the Field Museum in Chicago (U.S.A.) is a different species or falls within one of the diverse subspecies of Gazella gazella. And it is still not clear if these gazelles are the same as in the private collection in Qatar. Current DNA research is on its way to differentiate all the Arabian gazelles but until further notice, we have to consider Gazella bilkis to be extinct.


(Photographed by Chris Furley, about 1985. )

[another specialist]

May be of use some info & photos

arts.anu.edu.au/grovco/Arabia.htm

[sebbe67]

This species was described on the basis of the 1951 specimens by Groves and Lay (1985). Current genetic research at King Khaled Wildlife Research Centre, Saudi Arabia raises some doubts about the validity of its specific status. Formerly found in mountains near Ta'izz, Yemen.

The population was described as very common in 1951.

Seen in small groups of 1-3 on Euphorbia-covered hillsides at altitudes of 1,230 - 2,150 m; not seen in cultivated areas or near roads (Sanborn and Hoogstraal 1953).

CREO regard this as an unresolved extinction due to taxonomic disputes around the species. May be a subspecies of G. arabica, but there is also doubt over the taxonomic status of G. arabica. Rod East (pers. comm. 2001) states that there is little doubt that the population originally described as G. bilkis is certainly now extinct, regardless of whether it was a species or a subspecies.

www.iucnredlist.org/search/details.php/8987/all

[another specialist]

1. The gazelle species Gazella bilkis is named after which legendary ruler?

A: The Queen of Sheba, referred to as Balkis in Islamic myth

community.livejournal.com/kqaquizzes

[another specialist]

The Queen of Sheba's, or bilkis gazelle (Gazella bilkis), lived on the plains and hills around the city of Ta'izz in Yemen. It was declared extinct in 1992

www.threegorgesprobe.org/tgp/index.cfm?DSP=content&ContentID=13966

[another specialist]

www.scribd.com/doc/2621714/Mysterious-CreaturesA-Guide-To-Cryptozoology

[another specialist]

Antelopes: Global Survey and Regional Action Plans By Rod East, David P. Mallon, Steven Charles Kingswood, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources

[another specialist]

Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference
By Don E. Wilson, DeeAnn M. Reeder



books.google.co.uk/books?id=JgAMbNSt8ikC&pg=PA680&dq=Gazella+arabica&sig=Twc1n6eTpuV6yX2Hp5A_f58Y0oU#PPA680,M1

tinyurl.com/6l5qm4

[another specialist]

SUBSPECIES Gazella arabica bilkis
Author: Groves and Lay, 1985.
Type Locality: Yemen, Wadi Maleh 5 mi (8 km) east of Ta'izz, El Hauban.
Comments: Status of bilkis (known from five specimens collected in 1951) reviewed by Greth et al (1993).

www.bucknell.edu/msw3/browse.asp?s=y&id=14200554

[another specialist]

Taxonomy [top]
Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family
ANIMALIA CHORDATA MAMMALIA CETARTIODACTYLA BOVIDAE

Scientific Name: Gazella bilkis
Species Authority
Infra-specific Authority: Groves & Lay, 1985
Common Name/s:
English – Queen Of Sheba's Gazelle, Yemen Gazelle
French – Gazelle Du Yemen
Spanish – Gacela De Yemen
Assessment Information [top]
Red List Category & Criteria: Extinct ver 3.1
Year Assessed: 2008
Assessor/s Participants at the 4th International Conservation Workshop for the Threatened Fauna of Arabia
Evaluator/s: Mallon, D.P. (Antelope Red List Authority) & Hoffmann, M. (Global Mammal Assessment)
Justification:
The taxon is known only from five specimens collected in 1951 in the mountains near Ta’izz, where it was reportedly common at the time. There have been no subsequent specimens, sightings or reports, and the species is now considered Extinct.
History:
2003 – Extinct (IUCN 2003)
2000 – Extinct (Hilton-Taylor 2000)
1996 – Critically Endangered (Baillie and Groombridge 1996)
Geographic Range [top]
Range Description: This species was described on the basis of five specimens collected in 1951 in mountains near Ta’izz. Localities included Wadi Maleh, Usaifira, and Jabal Zarba (Groves and Lay 1985; Greth et al. 1993).
Countries:
Regionally extinct:
Yemen
Population [top]
Population: The population was described as very common in 1951, but there have been no records since the 1950s and the species is now believed extinct (Mallon and Al Safadi 2001). During surveys conducted in 1992 in the mountains south of Ta'izz, local people reported that gazelles had not been seen in the area for several decades (Greth et al. 1993).
Habitat and Ecology [top]
Habitat and Ecology: Seen in small groups of 1-3 on Euphorbia-covered hillsides at altitudes of 1,230 - 2,150 m; not seen in cultivated areas or near roads (Sanborn and Hoogstraal 1953).
Systems: Terrestrial
Threats [top]
Major Threat(s): This species was hunted for food by army officers in 1951 (Sanborn and Hoogstraal 1953); there is no other information available.

www.iucnredlist.org/details/8987

[Bhagatí]

Gazella bilkis

Source:
publicadosbrasil.blogspot.com/2011/01/extincao-imediata-gazela-do-iemen.html

[Peter]

Baghira posted the following in the Arabian gazelle topic:

Apr 4, 2012 17:40:23 GMT Bhagatí said:

Gazella arabica - lost and found?

Abstract:
With this study we’ve set out to chase a mystery: Gazella arabica Lichtenstein, 1827. Based on only two specimens in the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, this taxon has puzzled researchers for more than a century. Its former distribution, phylogenetic position and species status are unclear. The taxon is now considered extinct, status “data deficient” (IUCN/SSC Antelope Specialist Group 1996). We provide a first molecular characterization of the
type material, using sections of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene and the mitochondrial control region. Additional sequences, from other museum specimens assigned to G. arabica, as well as living gazelles and previously published sequences available on GenBank complement the data set. We further sequenced parts of the mitochondrial 12S gene for several living gazelle species in order to increase the overall amount of sequence data
available for investigating gazelle phylogeny.

Introduction:
Throughout the 19th century, G. arabica was used as the species name for all gazelles living in Arabia (Groves 1983), until the presence of several distinct species was acknowledged. Along with the other Arabian gazelles, the status of G. arabica has repeatedly been changed from a species to a subspecies of G. gazella, to a subspecies of G. dorcas and back to a distinct species. Furthermore, the original type material was later considered to consist of two distinct taxa: Neumann (1906) designated the male specimen (Fig. 1) from the Farasan archipelago the lectotype of G. arabica and erected a subspecies, G. arabica rueppelli, for the female (Fig. 2) from Sinai, based on differences in coloration.

Here we test, using molecular phylogenetics, whether G. arabica is a distinct species separate from all other gazelle species, or a synonym of G. dorcas or G. gazella.

Conclusions:
With the newly sequenced molecular data we are able to re-evaluate the systematic and taxonomic status of G. arabica: both type specimens do not form a separate clade and the name is synonymous with G. dorcas. However, as the name G. arabica was commonly used for the gazelles in Arabia, not all specimens labeled “G. arabica” necessarily belong to G. dorcas, but could be
members of G. gazella, as previous authors have hypothesized (e.g., Rostron 1972; Wronski et al. 2010), and as ZMB 66104 and ZSM AM/1063 demonstrate. The increased amount of sequence data clearly indicates four clades among gazelles, but needs further investigations to resolve their interrelationships.

Results and Discussion:
Both type specimens, ZMB 2115 and ZMB 2108, are nested within a monophyletic G. dorcas clade. This placement of ZMB 2108 supports Groves (1983) who concluded that G. a. rueppelli is a junior synonym of G. dorcas isabella based on skull dimensions.
It is however surprising for ZMB 2115 which is morphologically more similar to G. gazella (Baermann et al. in prep.) and remains to be verified.

The skin ZMB 66104 as well as the specimen labeled ZSM AM/1063 both belong to G. gazella; the numberless skin (ZMB, a zoo specimen from 1965) seems to be a
misidentified G. subgutturosa.

G. bilkis Groves and Lay, 1985 which is sometimes considered a subspecies of G. arabica (Groves 1996), is a synonym of G. gazella.

There are four monophyletic groups in Gazella (numbered clade 1-4 in Fig. 3) which form the same unrooted tree (1,2,(3,4)) in all three separate analyses (data not shown). However, this tree is rooted at different branches when outgroup species are included. Using cytb, the outgroup (represented by the genera Nanger, Eudorcas, and Antilope) roots the Gazella ingroup between clade 1 (G. dorcas + G. saudiya) and the remaining species; in the separate 12S analysis, the outgroup roots the tree between clade 3 (G. subgutturosa + G. bennetti) and the remaining species. In the combined analysis (Fig. 3) the tree is rooted again between clade1 and the remaining species, but the branch support from posterior probabilities is very low. Longer sequences and additional markers as well as extended taxon sampling will be necessary to settle these contradictory results.

Source:
people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/evb24/Baermann_et_al_DGS_Poster_Gazella_arabica.pdf

In the presented poster it is stated that Gazella bilkis is a synonym of Gazella gazella. For this conclusion they used blood of "Bilkis" gazelles from Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation, Doha. So they assume (or conclude) that these animals are rediscovered Bilkis gazelles. I guess they did not study the original museum specimens as far as I can tell from this poster. Before accepting the conclusion that Gazella bilkis is a synonym of Gazella gazella I want to see first the complete research. Maybe that upcoming paper can tell us more about the genetic taxonomic status of Gazella bilkis.

[Melanie]

Several information on Gazella bilkis

nwrc.gov.sa/NWRC_ENG/Gazelles_publications_files/Greth%20Magin%20Ancrenaz%20%28Eds%29%201996%20Arabian%20Gazelles.pdf

[Melanie]

Is anyone here who has information about the shoulder height and the total body length of the Bilkis Gazelle?

[Bhagatí]

New information:

in www.wildsolutions.nl/Publications/Lerp,%20Wronski,%20Butynski,%20Plath_Speciation%20of%20Arabian%20Gazelles_proofs%20-%202013.pdf

Finally, the most enigmatic gazelle described from Arabia should be mentioned: the Queen of Sheba’s gazelle (Gazella bilkis). Specimens shot in the Taizz Mountains of southern Yemen in 1951 (now stored at Chicago FMNH) were originally identified as G. arabica erlangeri by the collector Hoogstraal. They were, however, re-evaluated retrospectively based on skull morphology and described as Gazella bilkis (Groves and Lay 1985; Groves and Grubb 2011). Even though the taxonomic status of these gazelles remains unclear, there is no doubt that G. bilkis is extinct (Mallon and Al-Safadi 2001).

Lerp, H., Wronski, T., Butynski, T. M. & Plath, M. 2013. Speciation of Arabian gazelles. In: Speciation: Natural Processes, Genetics and Biodiversity. P. Michalak, ed. Nova Science, Hauppauge, New York. Pp. 59-82.
Chapter 3
SPECIATION OF ARABIAN GAZELLES
Hannes Lerpa, Torsten Wronskib,c,
Thomas M. Butynski, and Martin Platha
Evolutionary Ecology Group, J.W. Goethe–University Frankfurt,
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Conservation Programmes, The Zoological Society of London,
London, United Kingdom
King Khalid Wildlife Research Centre, Saudi Wildlife Authority,
Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

[surroundx]

Greth, A., Williamson, D., Groves, Colin, Schwede, G. and Vassart, M. (1993). Bilkis gazelle in Yemen – status and taxonomic relationships. Oryx 27(4): 239-244.

[Sebbe]

The conservation status and distribution of the mammals of the Arabian Peninsula.

Gazella bilkis Taxonomic notes: Regional assessment: Justification: Range description: This species was described on the basis of five specimens collected in 1951 in mountains near Ta’izz, Yemen (Groves & Lay, 1985; Greth et al., 1993). Some authors have considered bilkis as a subspecies of G. arabica, a little-known taxon known from a few specimens on the Farasan Islands (Grubb, 2005). However, the type specimen of G. arabica has recently been shown to be a composite (Bärman et al., 2012) and the name has been assigned to the populations of gazelles on the Arabian Peninsula, formerly considered G. gazella, casting considerable doubt on the validity of G. bilkis as a separate species. Extinct (EX) [as Global]. This gazelle is known only from five specimens, collected in 1951 in the mountains near Ta’izz, where it was reportedly common at the time. There have been no subsequent specimens, sightings or reports, and the species is now considered Extinct, if indeed it is really a valid species (IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group, 2016a). The localities where the specimens were collected in 1951 were in mountains near Ta’izz and included Wadi Maleh, Usaifira, and Jabal Zarba (Groves & Lay, 1985; Greth et al., 1993). Countries of occurrence: Yemen (EX). Population: The population was described as very common in 1951 (Sanborn & Hoogstraal, 1953) but there have been no records since the 1950s. During surveys conducted in 1992 in the mountains south of Ta’izz, local people reported that this species had not been seen in the area for several decades (Greth et al., 1993). Habitat and ecology: Use and trade: Major threats: Conservation actions: Seen in small groups of 1–3 on Euphorbia-covered hillsides at altitudes of 1,230–2,150 m; not seen in cultivated areas or near roads (Sanborn & Hoogstraal, 1953). Gazelles in Yemen are subject to illegal hunting for meat and sport. Unknown. Poaching is suspected to have been the principal cause of decline. Extinct – not applicable.

portals.iucn.org/library/node/51297

[redpinnipedgamer]

Any validity to this possible video from Yemen 1965