台灣雲豹第一次被列入科學文獻的記載中是在1862年,是由第一個踏上台灣的西方博物學家史溫侯(Robert Swinhoe,當時在英國駐打狗領事館工作)所記載下來的。在那一年,史溫侯於英國的《倫敦動物學會集刊》(Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London,簡寫為PZS)上,發表了〈福爾摩沙島上的哺乳動物〉(On the Mammals of the Island of Formosa)這篇文章,裡面提到了台灣獼猴、台灣黑熊、台灣石虎、台灣雲豹等哺乳動物,這也是這些動物第一次見諸於正式科學文獻的紀錄。1864年,史溫侯的信件提到台灣雲豹的部分表示沒看過活體(I have not seen of this animal alive.),而其發現的三件毛皮,其中兩件成年毛皮在蘇澳(Sawo)發現,另一件在可能為今恆春附近的(Lungkeaou)所發現之較年輕的毛皮。
"......The distinctiveness of N. n. brachyura was also not supported by Kitchener et al. (2006) or by analysis of the short mtDNA fragment of Buckley-Beason et al. (2006). In addition Kitchener et al. (2006) pointed out that the original diagnosis of brachyura was made on the basis of a shorter tail, which is an unreliable characteristic (Pocock 1939, Kuroda 1940), especially as the holotype was a traded specimen with an incomplete tail (Kitchener et al. 2006). Therefore, the data (and the) currently available data do not support the distinction of the subspecies N. n. brachyura. ......" [16]
譯文:
「無論是Kitchener et al. (2006)或是Buckley-Beason et al. (2006) 所做的粒線體DNA短序列分析都無法支持N. n. brachyura 在分類學上(分支成為另一亞種)的顯著性。此外Kitchener (2006)也指出原初對「亞種brachyura」的鑑定來源僅在於「較短的尾巴」,這特徵並不可靠(Pocock 1939, Kuroda 1940),尤其因為該正模是一項買來的、尾巴不完整的標本(Kitchener et al. (2006)。因此,該資料以及現有的資料,都無法支持N. n. brachyura的亞種顯著性。」
Hall, Phil. 1999. The Published Writings of Robert Swinhoe [online]. np: Great Works Internet, [cited 12 November 2004]. Available from World Wide Web: [3].
Hattner, Rebecca. 2004. Neofelis nebulosa [online]. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Animal Diversity Web, 6 November [cited 13 November 2004]. Available from World Wide Web: [4] (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆).
McGlynn, Matt. 2004. Clouded Leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) [online]. np: Lioncrusher's Domain, [cited 13 November 2004]. Available from World Wide Web: [5].
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