Skull variability and taxonomic issues of the brown bear (Ursus arctos) IN the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Cover Page

Cite item

Full Text

Open Access Open Access
Restricted Access Access granted
Restricted Access Subscription Access

Abstract

Morphometric analysis of skulls of the brown bear (Ursus arctos L.) showed the existence of two populations of this species in Tibet in the 19th century. The distribution of the northern population-I included the Qilian Shan and Kunlun mountain ranges bordering the Tibetan plateau from the north and pe- netrated into the northern part of the plateau, northwestern Qinghai Province, PRC. The distribution of the southern population-II included the upstream reaches of the main rivers of Tibet, viz, Huang He, Yangtze and Mekong on the plateau, southeastern Qinghai Province and, most likely, the whole of southern Tibet, including the Himalayas of Nepal. The diagnostic features of the two populations are choanae parameters, choanae width in males and choanae depth in females. The noted peculiarities of Tibetan brown bears may be related to the anatomical structure of the nasopharynx, an organ of the respiratory system that ensures the air to be warmed to an optimal temperature before it reaches the bronchopulmonary tissues. The divergence of Tibetan brown bear populations may be related to the settlement of the high plateau from both southern and northern refugia of the last glaciation. The currently accepted name of the subspecies of the Tibetan bear, U. a. pruinosus Blyth 1854, is suggested to be retained for the southern population-II, and that its junior synonym, U. lagomyiarius Przewalski 1883, be restored to designate the northern population-I. Clarification of the taxonomic status of the different bear populations in Qinghai Province, PRC, the most human-exploited part of Tibet, could affect the assessment of their conservation status, which is currently defined by IUCN for all bears in Tibet as LC (“Least Concern”).

Full Text

Restricted Access

About the authors

V. N. Orlov

Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: deniskrivonogov@mail.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow, 119071

G. F. Baryshnikov

Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: deniskrivonogov@mail.ru
Russian Federation, St. Petersburg, 199034

D. M. Krivonogov

Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod, Arzamas Branch

Author for correspondence.
Email: deniskrivonogov@mail.ru
Russian Federation, Arzamas, 607220

A. V. Shchegol’kov

Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod, Arzamas Branch

Email: deniskrivonogov@mail.ru
Russian Federation, Arzamas, 607220

References

  1. Абрамов А.В., Барышников Г.Ф., 1990. Каталог типовых экземпляров коллекции Зоологического института СССР. Млекопитающие. Вып. 2. Хищные (Carnivora), хоботные (Proboscidea), десмостилии (Desmostylia). Л.: ЗИН РАН. 23 с.
  2. Банников А.Г., 1954. Млекопитающие Монгольской Народной Республики. М.: Наука. 669 с.
  3. Барышников Г.Ф., 2007. Медвежьи (Carnivora, Ursidae). СПб.: Наука. 541 с. (Фауна России и сопредельных стран. Млекопитающие. Т. 1. Вып. 5).
  4. Васильев С.К., 2021. Остатки байкальского яка (Poehpagus mutus baikalensis N. Verestchagin, 1954) из позднеплейстоценовых местонахождений Южной Сибири. Труды Зоологического института РАН. Т. 325. № 4. С. 384–408.
  5. Гептнер В.Г., Насимович А.А., Банников А.Г., 1961. Млекопитающие Советского Союза. Парнокопытные и непарнокопытные. М.: Высшая школа. Т. 1. 776 с.
  6. Грум-Гржимайло Г.Е., 1907. Описание путешествия в Западный Китай. Т. 3. СПб.: Изд. Импер. Русск. Геогр. Об-ва. 531 с.
  7. Козлов П.К., 1906. Монголия и Кам. Труды экс. Имп. Русск. Геогр. Об-ва, совершенной в 1899-1901 гг. Т. 1, ч. 2. СПб.: С. 257–734.
  8. Мурзаев Э.М., 1966. Природа Синьцзяна и формирование пустынь Центральной Азии. М.: ГИГЛ. 382 с.
  9. Огнев С.И., 1931. Звери Восточной Европы и Северной Азии. 2. Хищные млекопитающие. М.–Л.: Госиздат. 776 с.
  10. Пржевальский Н.М., 1875. Монголия и страна тангутов. Трехлетнее путешествие в восточной нагорной Азии. Второе путешествие по Центральной Азии. Т. 1. СПб.: Изд. Импер. Русск. Геогр. Об-ва. 330 с.
  11. Пржевальский Н.М., 1883. Из Зайсана через Хами в Тибет и на верховья Желтой реки. Третье путешествие по Центральной Азии. СПб.: Изд. Имп. Русск. Геогр. Об-ва. 473 с.
  12. Пржевальский Н.М., 1888. От Кяхты на истоки Желтой реки, исследование северной окраины Тибета и путь через Лоб-Нор по бассейну Тарима. Четвертое путешествие в Центральной Азии. СПб.: Изд. Имп. Русск. Геогр. Об-ва. 536 с.
  13. Роборовский В.И., 1900–1901. Труды экспедиции Императорского Русского Географического Общества по Центральной Азии, совершенной в1893–1895 гг. под начальством В.И. Роборовского. СПб.: Изд. Импер. Русск. Геогр. Об-ва. Части 1–3.
  14. Роборовский В.И., Козлов П.К., 1896. Экскурсии в сторону от путей Тибетской экспедиции. СПб.: Изд. Импер. Русск. Геогр. Об-ва. 128 с.
  15. Cоколов В.Е., Орлов В.Н., 1996. Гобийский медведь, мазаалай – Ursus gobiensis Sokolov et Orlov, 1992 // Редкие животные Монголии (позвоночные) / под ред. акад. В.Е. Соколова. М.: ИПЭЭ РАН. С. 136–141.
  16. Флеров К.К., 1935. Хищные звери (Fissipedia) Таджикистана // Виноградов Б.С. и др., Звери Таджикистана, их жизнь и значение для человека. С. 131–171.
  17. Abbas F., Bhatti Z.I., Haider J., Mian A., 2015. Bears in Pakistan: distribution, population biology and human conflicts // J. Biores. Manage. V. 2. Р. 1–13.
  18. Aryal A., Sathyakumar S., Schwartz C.C., 2010. Current status of the brown bear in Manasalu Conservation Area Nepal // Ursus. V. 21. P. 109–114.
  19. Blyth J., 1854. Report of zoological curator for September meeting // Proceedings of the Asiatic Society Bengal. V. 22. P. 589.
  20. Chestin I.E., 1996. Variability in skulls of Central Asian brown bears // Journal of Wildlife Research (Poland). V. 1. P. 70–75.
  21. Driscoll С.A., Yamaguchi N., Bar-Gal G.K. et al., 2009. Mitochondrial phylogeography illuminates the origin of the extinct Caspian tiger and its relationship to the Amur tiger // PLoS ONE 4(1): e4125.
  22. Ellerman J.R., Morrison-Scott T.C.S., 1951. Check-list of Palaearctic and Indian Mammals 1758 to 1946. London. 850 p.
  23. Galbreath G.J., Groves C.P., Waits L.P., 2007 Genetic resolution of composition and phylogenetic placement of the isabelline bear // Ursus. V. 18. P. 129–131.
  24. Hewitt G.M., 1999. Post-glacial recolonization of European biota // Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. V. 68. P. 87–112.
  25. Hirata D., Mano T., Abramov A.V. et al., 2013. Molecular phylogeography of the brown bear (Ursus arctos) in northeastern Asia based on analyses of complete mitochondrial DNA sequences // Mol. Biol. Evol. 30, P. 1644–1652.
  26. Lan T., Gill S., Bellemain E. et al., 2017. Evolutionary history of enigmatic bears in the Tibetan Plateau–Himalaya region and the identity of the yeti // Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. V. 284. № 1868. P. 20171804.
  27. Leslie D.M., Schaller G.B., 2009. Bos grunniens and Bos mutus (Artiodactyla: Bovidae) // Mammalian species, V. 836. P. 1–17.
  28. Lydekker R., 1897. The blue bear of Tibet, with notes on the members of the Ursus arctos group // Proceeding Zool. Soc. London. P. 412–426.
  29. Mayr E., 1969. Principles of systematic zoology. N.Y.: Mc-Grow Hill Bok Co. 428 p.
  30. McLellan B.N., Proctor M.F., Huber D., Michel S., 2017. Ursus arctos (amended version of 2017 assessment) // The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. e.T41688A121229971.
  31. Segawa T., Yonezawa T., Mori H. et al., 2021. Ancient DNA reveals multiple origins and migration waves of extinct Japanese brown bear lineages // Royal Society Open Science. V. 8. № 8. P. 210518.
  32. Tumendemberel O., Hendricks S.A., Hohenlohe P.A. et al., 2023. Range-wide evolutionary relationships and historical demography of brown bears (Ursus arctos) revealed by whole-genome sequencing of isolated central Asian populations // Molecular Ecology.
  33. doi: 10.1111/mec.17091
  34. Yang S., Dong H., Lei F., 2009. Phylogeography of regio- nal fauna on the Tibetan Plateau: a review // Progress Nat. Sci. V. 19. P. 789–799.
  35. Zhang R., Zheng C., 1981. The geographical distribution of mammals and the evolution of mammalian fauna in Qinghai–Xizang Plateau // Geological and ecological studies of Qinghai–Xizang Plateau. Beijing: Science Press. P. 1005–12.
  36. Zheng B., Xu Q., Shen Y., 2002. The relationship between climate change and Quaternary glacial cycles on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau: review and speculation // Quaternary Int. V. 97. P. 93–101.

Supplementary files

Supplementary Files
Action
1. JATS XML
Download
2. Fig. 1. The historical range of the brown bear (Ursus arctos L.) in Central Asia (McLellan et al., 2017). 1 – Locations of type specimens of subspecies (I – U. a. isabellinus Horsfield 1826, II – U. a. pruinosus Blyth 1854, III – U. a. lagomyiarius Przewalski 1883, IV – U. a. leuconyx Severtzov 1873, V – U. a. gobiensis Sokolov et Orlov 1992); 2 – locations of collectible specimens populations-I; 3 – locations of collectible specimens of the population-II; 4 – extreme western and southern meeting places of brown bears, noted in the works of Russian researchers of Tibet (Przhevalsky, 1883, 1888; Kozlov, 1906); 5 – collection sites of the studied molecular samples of brown bears (Lan et al., 2017).

Download (975KB)
Indexing metadata
3. Fig. 2. The scheme of measurements of the skull of a brown bear. Descriptions of measurements are given in the text. The measurements of the length and width of teeth 18-21 missing in the figure are taken from the buccal side (length) and in the widest part of the tooth (width). The scheme of measurements of cheek teeth of bears is given in Baryshnikov's monograph (2007, fig. 3).

Download (246KB)
Indexing metadata
4. Fig. 3. Distribution of the skulls of Tibetan brown bears in the space of the first and second canonical axes: 1, 2 – males of group I-♂ ♂ and females of group I-♀; 3, 4 - males of group II-♂ and females of group II-♀.

Download (73KB)
Indexing metadata
5. Fig. 4. The shape of the posterior choanae in brown bears (Ursus arctos L.). A – Tien Shan, ZIN 1235 ♂, coll. N.M. Przhevalsky; B - Northern Tibet, Tsaidam (Fig. 1, 3), ZIN 3214 ♂, coll. N.M. Przhevalsky (population-I); In the upper reaches of the Yellow River, Tolichu River (Fig. 1, 9 ), ZIN 7818 ♂, coll. P.K. Kozlov (population-II ).

Download (120KB)
Indexing metadata
6. Fig. 5. Differences of male brown bears of Tibet in width (Hoapa) and depth (Hhoany) hoan: black circles – population-I, white circles – population-II. The numbers indicate the locations of the collectible items (correspond to Fig. 1).

Download (54KB)
Indexing metadata
7. Fig. 6. Differences of female Tibetan brown bears in width (Bhoany) and depth (Hhoany) of hoan: black circles – population-I, white circles – population-II. The numbers indicate the locations of the collectible items (correspond to Fig. 1).

Download (52KB)
Indexing metadata

Copyright (c) 2024 Russian Academy of Sciences