Lynx lynx ssp. sardiniae (Sardinian lynx)

[Peter]

Jun 6, 2005 13:56:15 GMT sebbe67 said:

Lynx lynx sardiniae, this subspecies has only been recorded from Sardinia, there hasent been any confirmed reports of this animal from the island the last 30 years, and many fear that it is now gone. Last record are from 1967, when a single female was shot in the north. Hunting, habitat lost and lost of prey may be the cause of the extinction.

Sebbe, do you maybe (hopefully ) still know the source of this post from 2005? I'm looking for any (scientific) source of the last sighting or extinction date of this animal, but haven't been able to find it. Anyone else?

[Melanie]

Probably invalid. Guggisberg (Wild cats of the world, 1975) state that the Sardinian lynx was nothing more than a mistaken wild cat (Felis silvestris sarda, synonym: Felis lybica sarda).

[Melanie]

Moved to Cryptozoology as there is no remaining material that confirms that lynxes occurred indeed on Sardinia. The holotype seems to be lost and nobody knows what happened to the animal that was shot in 1967. Another reason is the uncertainties according to its validity. Maybe it was a lynx, maybe it was a wild cat or it might have been even a hybrid.

[Melanie]

I am most confused on the tail length because there is no lynx that has such a long tail: 33 cm (as given by Mola: Mola, Pasquale. (1908). Ancora della Lince della Sardegna. Bollettino della Società Zoologica Italiana Roma 9: 46-48.) English Translation at G. S. Miller (1912) (Catalogue of the Mammals of Western Europe (Europe exclusive of Russia) in the collection of the British Museum. Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History) London.)

[Bhagatí]

A new informations from:

(PDF) A revised taxonomy of the Felidae. The final report of the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group - CATnews Special Issue 11 Winter 2017

Lynx lynx sardiniae Mola, 1908b; 48.Type locality: Nuoro, Sardinia. Syntypes: Zoology Institute, Sassari University two mounted skins; both now lost. Distribution: Sardinia. In 1908 Mola published two short articles in the Bollettino della So-cietà Zoologica Italiana describing, firstly, a problematico incrocio di Felidi (Mola 1908a), then a Lince della Sardegna (Mola 1908b). Both descriptions were clearly and doubtlessly related to two Sardinian wildcats (Felis lybica lybica). In November 1979, during his survey for the preparation of the monograph on Felis lybica in Italy (Ragni 1981), B. Ragni saw and examined one of Mola’s two mounted specimens in

the zoological collection of the Zoology Institute of Sassari University; the animal was in a poor state of preservation, but was obviously Felis lybica and not Lynx lynx (see photo). The other specimen was lost and the cited one was destroyed a few years after his visit (G. Delitala, curator of zoological collections, Sassari University, pers. comm.). Both specimens were without skulls. A few years after Mola’s “discovery” Prof. Alessandro Ghigi, a famous Italian zoologist, assessed the major lapsus of the Sardinian student, affirming that the described Sardinian lynx was, effectively, a Sardinian wildcat (Ghigi 1911).


Lynx lynx sardiniae - Misidentified; actually Felis lybica

Source: www.researchgate.net/publication/316880566_A_revised_taxonomy_of_the_Felidae_The_final_report_of_the_Cat_Classification_Task_Force_of_the_IUCNSSC_Cat_Specialist_Group

[Bhagatí]

Mola, P. (1908). "Considerazioni sopra un problematico incrocio di Felidi". Bollettino della Società zoologica italiana. 2. 9: 42–45.
Mola, P. (1908). "Ancora della Lince della Sardegna". Bollettino della Società zoologica italiana. 2. 9: 46–48.



I apologize for the Italian text.
But the name of the source is to be stated, in its original version.

from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sardinian_lynx and References