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Deraniyagala, P.E.P.
The Ceylon leopard, a distinct subspecies
1956 Spolia Zoyhnia (28): 115-116
The Ceylon leopard has been generally regarded as inseparable from the Indian and both have been assigned to the subspecies Panthera pardus fusca (Meyer). Recently, however, attention was drawn to the fact that the Ceylon animal never 'sports' marbled or blotched color varieties as does the Indian and the new subspecific name Kotiya was assigned to it (Deraniyagala 19?_ ) _A comparison of skull dimensions now set down, further supports this view. A comparison of measurements of three adult male leopard skulls from Wilpattu with those of four Indian males listed by Pocock (1930, p. 230) shows that the Cevlon animal is somewhat smaller. Although the skull comparison indicates a slightly smaller animal, measurements suggests that the Ceylon race attains to a greater total length due to its longer tail length and possesses more numerous spots, but more data is necessary to clarify these two suspected characters. The available data however suffices to establish the fact that the Ceylon animal is subspecifically distinct from the Indian.
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