Revision of buffaloes' position on the zoological scale
1990
Peary, Y.J. (City University of New York, New York (USA))
Buffaloes have been traditionally grouped, together with cattle and other oxen, in the Bovinae, a sub-family of the family Bovidae. The author contends that only the species in the genera Bos, Bibos, Poephagus and Bison--all of whom 2 have diploid cells with 2n=60 chromosomes (and, therefore, are all more or less easily hybridizable with one another)--should be included in the said sub-family. On the other hand, none of the species in the so-called "buffaline" genera, Syncerus, Bubalus and Anoa can be hybridized with any of the above, because their own diploid chromosome numbers are quite smaller and range depending on the species, form 2n=54 down 2n=48. For this important reason, the author proposes to place all buffaloes --wild and domestic-- in a separate and new sub-family to be named Bubalinae (see Chart). Furthermore, the so-called "river" and "swamp" types of water buffalo, the first one with 2n=50 and the other with 2n=48 chromosomes, ought to be recognized as valid Linnaean subspecies of Bubalus bubalis, to be respectively named henceforth B. b. fluviatilis and B. b. limneticus
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