572 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



Transcaspian Urial 



Ovis VIGNEI ARKAL Eversmann 



Ovis arkal Eversmann (ex Brandt in litt.), Estest. Istoriya Orenburghsk 

 Kraya [Natural History of the Orenburg Government], vol. 2, p. 271, 

 1850. ("Typical locality Ust-Urt Plateau, Transcaspia" (Lydekker, 1913c, 

 vol. 1, p. 91). Cf. Harper, 1940, p. 326.) 



SYNONYMS: Ovis arkar Brandt (1852); ?O. arkal Blasius (1857); ?O. vignei 

 varenzovi Satunin (1905); ?0. arcar dolgopolovi Nasonov (1913). 



FIGS.: Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1903, p. 103, fig. 10; Kennion, The Field, vol. 

 109, p. 529, fig., 1907; Nasonov, 1913, fig. 2, facing p. 10 (varenzovi}, p. 18, 

 fig. 4 (arkal), p. 24, fig. 6 (varenzovi), fig. 11, following p. 32 (arkal}, fig. 

 12, following p. 32 (varenzovi), fig. 13, following p. 32 (dolgopolovi); 

 Lydekker, 1913a, pi. 20, fig. 2, and p. 266, fig.; Lydekker, 1913c, vol. 1, 

 p. 91, fig. 27; Kennion, 1915, pi. 19; Nasonov, 1923, pi. 8, fig. 1 (dolgo- 

 polovi), pi. 8, fig. 2 (arkal). 



This sheep has apparently maintained itself in fair numbers, at 

 least in parts of its range in Russian Turkestan / and northeastern 

 Persia. 



"Size (teste Kennion) very large, but measurements of height not 

 available. Horns with the front surface much flattened and sparsely 

 wrinkled, and the two front angles strongly developed; frequently 

 forming more than a complete circle; basal girth in fine specimens 

 from 10 to 12^ inches. Ruff almost wholly white in front in adult 

 rams; . . . general colour of body rufous." (Lydekker, 1913c, 

 vol. 1, pp. 91-92; description based probably upon Persian speci- 

 mens). Record length of horns on front curve, 45^ inches (Ward, 

 1935, p. 295). According to Nasonov (1923, pp. 46, 51), the females 

 of "dolgopolovi" are hornless, while those of "arcar" are horned. 



Nasonov (1923) recognizes "0. orientalis arcar" of the Ust-Urt 

 Plateau; "0. orientalis cycloceros" extending northwestward from 

 Afghanistan to the Kopet-Dagh and the Great Balkan; and "0. 

 orientalis dolgopolovi" of the Astrabad region and the Ala-Dagh, 

 in northeastern Persia. He considers 0. vignei varenzovi Satunin 

 a synonym of cycloceros. In view of the plasticity of this group, 

 the range assigned by Nasonov to cycloceros seems unduly extensive. 

 Evidently more material is required to settle the taxonomic status 

 of the Urials of this region. 



The combined range of the three proposed forms (arkal, varen- 

 zovi, and dolgopolovi) extends from the Mangyshlak Peninsula and 

 the Ust Urt Plateau south through the Great Balkan and the Kopet- 

 Dagh to the mountains of Astrabad and Khorassan (cf. Sushkin, 

 1925, pp. 148-149). 



According to Radde and Walter (1889, pp. 1066-1067), this 

 animal is unusually numerous in the entire Kopet-Dagh, from 

 Tejend to the western end of the range, and likewise common in 

 Astrabad and on the Great Balkan. It ranges northward to the 



