Panthera pardus tulliana is a leopard subspecies native to the Iranian Plateau and surrounding areas encompassing Turkey, the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Iraq, Iran, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and possibly Pakistan. Since 2016, it has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, as the wild population is estimated at less than 1,000 mature individuals.
Common names used for P. p. tulliana include Anatolian leopard, Persian leopard, Caucasian leopard, Balochistan leopard and Asia Minor leopard.
Taxonomy
Felis tulliana was the scientific name proposed by Achille Valenciennes in 1856, who described a skin and skull from a leopard killed near Smyrna, in western Turkey. In the 19th and 20th centuries, several naturalists described leopard zoological specimens from the Middle East: Felis pardus tulliana was proposed by Richard Lydekker in 1899 after examining a leopard skin from the Caucasus. Felis ciscaucasica was proposed by Konstantin Alekseevich Satunin in 1914, based on a leopard specimen from the Kuban region in the North Caucasus. Panthera pardus saxicolor was proposed by Reginald Innes Pocock in 1927, who described leopard skins from different areas of Persia, but recognized their similarity to Caucasian leopard skins. His holotype was a skin and a skull of a male leopard from Asterabad. P. p. sindica was proposed by Pocock in 1930 for a single skin and two skulls from the Kirthar Mountains in Balochistan. He wrote that the skin closely resembled those of P. p. saxicolor, but was distinguishable from the typical Indian leopard (P. p. fusca) in colour. It was subsumed to P. p. saxicolor based on molecular genetic analysis in 1996.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Anatolian leopard was considered a distinct leopard subspecies that occurred only in western Turkey. The leopard specimens available in zoological museum collections do not differ significantly in the sizes and shapes of skulls. Therefore, the subspecific names tulliana, ciscaucasica and saxicolor are currently considered synonyms.
An analysis of leopard samples from Afghanistan revealed that they belong to P. p. saxicolor, but intergrade with the Indian leopard (P. p. fusca) in eastern Afghanistan.
In 2017, the Persian leopard population was subsumed to P. p. tulliana, which is the oldest available name for the leopard subspecies in West Asia.
Phylogeny
A phylogenetic analysis indicates that P. p. tulliana matrilineally belongs to a monophyletic group that diverged from the African (P. p. pardus) and the Arabian leopard (P. p. nimr) in the second half of the Pleistocene. DNA analysis indicates that the leopards in Iran belong to a single gene pool and form a distinct subclade.
Characteristics
P. p. tulliana has a grayish, slightly reddish fur with large rosettes on the flanks and back, smaller ones on the shoulder and upper legs, and spots on the head and neck. It varies in colouration; in Iran both pale and dark individuals occur. Its average body length is , with a long skull and a long tail. It weighs up to .
Biometric data collected from 25 female and male individuals in various provinces of Iran indicate an average body length of . A young male from northern Iran weighed .
Distribution and habitat
The habitat of P. p. tulliana in the Greater Caucasus is subalpine meadows, temperate broadleaf and mixed forests and rugged ravines from ; and in the Lesser Caucasus and Iran rocky slopes, mountain steppes and sparse juniper forests. It avoids areas with long-duration snow cover and areas near urban development.
In northern Anatolia, zoologists found evidence of leopards in the upper forest and alpine zones of the Pontic Mountains during surveys carried out between 1993 and 2002. Its presence in the Pontic Mountains was questioned in 2016 due to a lack of evidence. A camera trap photograph obtained in Trabzon Province in the Black Sea region in September 2013 is said to show a leopard. Its preferred habitat is thought to be sparse forest areas, followed by rocky areas, agriculture and pasture areas, and riparian zones. In southeastern Turkey, its presence was documented in the Çınar district of Diyarbakır Province and in Bitlis Province. In 2018 and 2019, it was photographed on the northern slopes of Mount Cudi in Şırnak Province, and this may be a corridor for movement between Turkey and Iraq. It has also been photographed in the north-eastern province of Artvin, which borders Georgia, but whether the animals are resident is not known. In Beydağları Coastal National Park, two leopards were recorded in 58 video and photographs between August 2019 and May 2023.