Distinguishing Features of the Florida Panther

Transcription

1 o -. Send Correspondence To: Robert C. Belden Florida Game &Fresh Water Fish Commission Wildlife Research Laboratory 4005 South Hain Street Gainesville, Florida Distinguishing Features of the Florida Panther Laurie Wilkons, Florida State Museum, Gainesville. FL Robert C. Belden. Florida Game &Fresh Water Fish Commission. Gainesville, FL Abstract: Newly acquired specimens of the endangered Florida panther. Felis concolor coryi. have provided an opportunity to re-evaluate previously published qescriptions of this subspecies. All specimens known to exist in collections plus seven live captured specimens were examined and compared to other subspecies. Two new characters are described and discussed. Based on these distinguishing features, we concluded that the population of panthers that exists in Florida. from the ear~iest account recorded. is distinctiv~ and can be identified on the basis of a combination of pelage characters alone. The Florida panther was first described as a separate geographic race of Felis concolor by Charles B. Cory in He assigned it the name F. c. floridana. Bangs (1899) pointed out that this name was untenable because f. floridana had previously been used for a bobcat. He also believed that the Florida panther had been restricted to peninsular Florida and could no longer integrate with any other form, and he doubted it ever had. For these reasons Bangs assigned the animal full specific rank with the name Felis coryi..,

2 After analy:ing practically all available material in North American t~ collectio~s, Nelson and Goldman (1929) revised the taxonomic classifications of the Felis concolor group and assigned the Florida panther subspecific status with the designation I.. coryi Bangs. This designation included Felis arundivaga which had been designated by Hollister (1911) from specimens collected in Louisiana. The most recent taxonomic review of the species, as well as detailed descriptions of each subspecies, including F.. coryi (based on 17 specimens), is given by Goldman (1946). Over the past 10 years, as new Florida panther specimens became available, it was noted that two characteristics not previously described by researchers consistently occurred. One'of these was a ridge or whorl,..., of hairs, similar to a cowlick, present in the mid-dorsal region of the back. The second was a crook in'the end of the tail. The objective of this study was to re-examine the previously known specimens of I.. coryi as well as other subspecies for the,presence or absence of these characters and to determine their usefulness in subspecific identification. ~IETHODS Four-hundred-eighty Felis cancolor museum skins were examined in collections of the Field ~luseum of Natural. History, the National ~luseum, ~lusewn of Comparative Zoology and Florida State Museum. Twenty-four of these were!.. coryi specimens including the type specimens I.. floridana Cory (1896), F. coryi Bangs (1899), and I. arundivaga Hollister (1911). The remaining 449 skins represented 19 of the 30 recognized subspecies from North, Central, and South America. Additionally seven live captured F. c. coryi were examined during a Florida Game and Fresh

3 ..:..-_ :;;;,;..---_-.:.._ Water Fish Commission capture and radio-tagging study. All were examined for the presence of white flecks (a previously described characteristic), \ the whorl, and the crooked tail. A single museum specimen from Hiami included in GOldman's report (1946) was eliminated from the study since it was purchased from Wards Scientific Establishment.' No locality data was available and it bore no resemblance to other Florida animals. It is very possible that this specimen was obtained elsewhere and brought into the Country at Hiami, a practice this organization was known for. RESULTS Of the 31 F. c. coryi examined, all had white flecks (Fig. la). The white flecks are consistently present on the shoulder and neck region and sometimes on the back of the head. At times, they can be quite indistinct consisting of only a few isolated white hairs or small patches of white hairs, while other animals are liberally splattered with them. It is a characteristic that appears with the adult ~elage, but beyond that its presence or. the amount of white do not seem to be age related. The white flecks turn up rarely in individuals of other.' subspecies, but only in the Florida race can it be considered characteristic (Goldman 1946). The whorl is structural in nature and consists of hairs oriented differently than those in the rest of the skin. It is oblong or tear-drop shaped and from 4 to 30 cm in length (Fig. IB). It occurs in males and females and is present at birth as observed in four unborn infants. The whorl was present on 23 of the :9 (79.3%) ~.. coryi specimens from Florida and on nine of the 449 (2.0%) specimens of other subspecles.

4 , Neither the white flecks nor the whorl occurred in either of the F. c. coryi specimens from Louisiana. Besides coryi, there were only eight subspecies of sufficient sample size to consider frequency of Occurrence within races. Of these, the whorl occurred in only four out of 125 (3.2%) ~.'~' azteca and one of 31 (3.2%) ~. c. kaibabensis. Excluding coryi, this characteristic was present on five of 408 (1.2%) specimens from North America (Table 1) and on four of 41 (9.8%) specimens from Central and South America (Table 2). The crooked tail is visible on the whole animal as a curl at the tip (Fig. IC). It is the result of a modification of the' last three caudal vertebrae (Fig. 10). The third from the last vertebrae is reduced in size, and slightly curved and is oriented 90 degrees from the preceeding vertebrae. The last two vertebrae are also reduced in size, with the last one appearing almost vesttgial. It was present in all ~.. coryi museum specimens in which the postcranial skeleton was available and on all seven live captured animals; a total of 16 animals. While.:postcranial skeletons were not available on any specimens prior to 1972, the crooked tail was apparent in a 1935 photograph of a dead panther taken by Ernest Lee and David ~ewell in the Big C)~ress Swamp, Collier County, Florida (Tinsley 1970:23). DISCUSSION The historical distribution of F. ~. caryi was thought to include most of the southeastern United States (Hall and Kelson 1981). Its present status over most of this range is poorly known and depends to a ~..,.~:.' large extent upon the reliability, of sighting reports, most of which are _. '... '.'-.., ~...'C' J ,...'.-... I..' -',.,J ':~:',,-., r't,.. ',.', ~'';J'

5 questionable. Consistantly documented evidence of the animal's presence is avail~ble south Florida. only from the Big Cypress Swamp and Everglades regions of Early reports of ~.. coryi (Cory 1896, Bangs 1898) contained very little descriptive information. Characteristics of the skull and pelage were first reported by Bangs (1899) based on six specimens. Goldman's (1946) review of the entire species included a description based on the 17 specimens (only 11 of which had skins) in collections at that time. In general, the most distinctive feature of the skull is the shortened rostrum and the correspondingly expanded and inflated nasals giving the animal the appearance of having a prominant or roman nose. The outer margins of the nasals are often free and pushed upward and tend to overlap the maxilla and frontal:bones (Goldman 1946). The pelage is.'..,j,.' relatively dark, but variable, usually tawny brown. darkest along the middle of the back, becoming lighter or clay-colored along the sides and composed of short, black-tipped hairs. The face is very dark, ~ut upper lips, chin and throat are white.,guard hairs of inner sides of limbs. and belly are white, but mixed with light reddish-brown' underfur giving the appearance of gray or soiled white becoming whiter toward the median ventral line. The tail is often very dark dorsally, ending in a black tip (Goldman 1946, Bangs 1899), Due to similarities between races and a wide range of individual variation, subspecific identification can be difficult or impossible based on a single specimen. ~,. coryi, however, has three distinctive characteristics that are being expressed in addition to the general appearance of the skull and pelage coloration (both of which are variable),.-~,..,,_rat::...:, '...~.:./',~,.~

6 These are the white flecks on the shoulder, neck, and head region; a mid-dors~l whorl; and a crook in the end of the tail. Although these. characteristics occur randomly in individuals of other subspecies, only in F. c. coryi do they occur 1n combination. This combination of traits make the Florida population distinctive and it is possible to make a conclusive identification based on a combination of skeletal and pelage characters or with assurance on the pelage alone. This can be especially important to researchers and law enforcement officials considering the large number of animals currently held in captivity (~hich escape or are released). occasionally Data obtained in this study suggest that the flecks, whorl, and crooked tail are carried in the gene pool of the species at a low frequency but are expressed at a high frequency in the Florida population, probably due to isolation. population whereas the whorl is not. The flecks and crooked tail appear to be fixed in the The presence of the whorl in four... infants while it was absent in the mother suggest that it is a.~ominant rather than a recessive trait however. Although this study was intended to provide a more detailed description of the little-known subspecies, f.. coryi, and not a taxonomic review of the species based on modern techniques and adequate sample sizes. Goldman (1946) stated in his review that lithe boundaries between subspecies are more or less arbitrarily drawn along lines representing the nearest approach to accuracy, as shown by specimens examined. These lines, especially in South America, are provisional as very extensive regions remain unrepresented by specimens. However, unlike his treatment of South America, the ~uthor assigned broad subspecific ranges in eastern '-'-~~.-; ': ~,:. '''ll..:-.:. ~.; :.... ;;..,;;r... '. ';.. :.... ' j',,,.- '\;...,,':.._..

7 J North America that more closely follow poutical boundaries. Then', as now, ext~nsive regions of Eastern North America remain unrepresented by specimens. It is impossible to determine the true historical distribution of F. c. coryi in the southeast. There is also no way of knowing whether or not it did, in fact, intergrade with the eastern cougar, F. c. cougar, as there are even fewer records of this subspecies. Bangs (1899) doubted it, ever did. The population in south Florida probably has been isolated since that time if not before (Bangs 1898). This would account for the absence of the three distinguishing features in the Louisiana specimens. LITERATURE CITED Bangs, O The land mammals of peninsular Florida and the coast region of Georgia. Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., 23: The Florida puma. Proc. BioI. Soc. Wash., 1;: Cory, C. B Hunting and fishing in Florida. Estes and Lauriat, Boston. 304 pp. Goldman, E. A Classification of the races of the puma. Pages in S. O. Young, and E. A. Goldman. The puma, mysterious American cat. Amer. Wi1dl. Inst., Washington, D.C. 358 pp. Hall, E. R. and K. R. Kelson The mammals of North America. 2 vols. Ronald Press, New York pp. HOllister, N The Louisiana Puma. Proc. BioI. Surv. Wash. 24: (,..

8 Nelson, E. W. and E. A. Goldman List of the pumas with three discribed as new. J. ~lamm., 10: Tinsley, J. B The Florida panther. Great Outdoors Publ. Co., St. Petersburg. 60 pp. J _~...:I'...~,... :.'.; l.~..,~ ': :,- t. 0, _ _.... r..., ~- l po

9 Wilkons and Belden 9 ';'. Table l. ~Number of Felis concolor specimens examined by subspecies and number and percent possessing a whorl in North America. Total Whorl Subspecies Locality Examined Present \ F. c. coryi FL LA Total F. c. azteca AZ, NM, Mex F. c. stanleyana TX 94 0 F. c. oregonensis OR, WA 5S 0 F. c. califomica CA, OR 44 0 F. c. kaibabensis AZ, NV,UT F. c. hippolestes CO, ~rr, UT 21 0 F. c. olympus WA 18 0 F. c. missoulensis ro, ~rr 16 0 F. c. browni AZ, CA 3 0 F. c. vancouverensis B.C. 1 0 Total 408 '. S 1.2. \ '.: ,......,.' 'f'. ~'i

10 Wilkons and Belden 10 Table 2. \ Number of Felis concolor specimens examined by subspecies and number and percent possessing a whorl in Central and South America. Subspecies F. c. concolor F. c. arucanus F. c. incarum F. c. costaricensis F. c. osgoodi F. c. pwna,) F. c. pearsoni F. c. soderstromi F. c. mayensis Total Locality Total Whorl Examined Present \ Venezuela, Brazil, British '.Guiana, Surinam Chile 11 2 (1) * 18.1 Peru 5 0 Costa Rica, Panama 3 0 Bolivia, Brazil 3 0 Chile 2 0 Chile, Argentina 2 1(1) * 50.0 Colombia 2 0 British Honduras *Rudimentary/artifact

11 Wilkons and Belden 11 Figure 1. Distinguishing features of Felis concolor coryi: A - White flecks on ~houlder, neck, and head region; B.- Mid-dorsal whorl; and C and D - Crook in end of tail..._. 'r.~~..

12 ....,.~.' J'.' J,I,.'f.,..., : '0.:...'...., :-...,.. ',' '.-' I, : ~l!.'. '. \ '. f.. I.,,'..

13 .'....,:...~., 11#. ~.., :.,.,..J..'~'.,... f..~ 0' '., '..' II. ~!..,...,'. '.. t:...,.,... A, '...,..- ~..'~ --.1'r''k. r ', '...., L_