Panthera leo massaica

Masai lion
Male Masai lion at Ngorongoro, Tanzania
Masai lioness at Samburu, Kenya
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Synapsida
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Suborder:	Feliformia
Family:	Felidae
Genus:	Panthera
Species:	P. leo
Subspecies:	P. l. melanochaita
Trinomial name
Panthera leo melanochaita (Ch. H. Smith, 1842)
Synonyms
formerly P. l. massaica, P. l. roosevelti, P. l. sabakiensis

formerly P. l. massaica, P. l. roosevelti, P. l. sabakiensis

The Masai lion or East African lion (Panthera leo melanochaita) is a lion population in East Africa.

Formerly, it was recognized as a distinct subspecies under the scientific name Panthera leo massaica. The type specimen is described as being from Tanganyika Territory in East Africa. In 2017, the lion populations in East and Southern Africa were subsumed under P. l. melanochaita.

The French zoologist de Blainville described a lion from Nubia under the trinomen Felis leo nubicus in 1843. In 1891, two lions caught in Somalia were described under Felis leo somaliensis. Already in the 1930s, all these specimens were considered synonymous with Felis leo leo.

In the 1890s, the German zoologist Neumann observed lions in East Africa. He proposed the trinomen Felis leo massaica based on two type specimens, one male killed near Kibaya and one female killed at the Gurui River. They differ morphologically from lions caught in Somalia. A decade later, the Swedish zoologist Lönnberg described two lion specimen from the environs of Mount Kilimanjaro under the name Felis leo sabakiensis that were killed during a Swedish zoological expedition to East Africa. In 1914, the American zoologist Heller described a lion from the Ethiopian highlands under the name Felis leo roosevelti based on a male lion presented to Theodore Roosevelt. In 1939, the American zoologist Allen recognized the trinomen Felis leo massaica as valid, and subordinated F. l. sabakiensis and F. l. roosevelti to this subspecies.

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Wikipedia