Turanian tiger
| Caspian tiger | |
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| Captive Caspian tiger, Berlin Zoo, 1899 | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Suborder: | Feliformia |
| Family: | Felidae |
| Genus: | Panthera |
| Species: | P. tigris |
| Subspecies: | P. t. virgata |
| Trinomial name | |
| Panthera tigris virgata Illiger, 1815 |
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| Original distribution (in dark grey) | |
| Synonyms | |
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P. t. lecoqi, P. t. septentrionalis, and P. t. trabata |
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P. t. lecoqi, P. t. septentrionalis, and P. t. trabata
The Caspian tiger (Panthera tigris virgata) is an extinct tiger subspecies, which inhabited the sparse forests and riverine corridors west and south of the Caspian Sea, from Turkey, Mesopotamia, Iran and the Caucasus, through Central Asia to the Takla Makan desert of Xinjiang in China, until the end of the 20th century. Depending on the region, it was also called Hyrcanian tiger, Turanian tiger,Persian tiger, and Babre Mazandaran (Persian: ببرِ مازندران, Tiger of Mazandaran). It was one of the largest big cats to have ever lived and was described as being intermediate in size between Siberian and Bengal tigers.
In 1815, Illiger assigned the scientific name P. t. virgata to the Caspian tiger. Recent genetic studies have revealed that the Caspian and Siberian tiger (P. t. altaica) shared a common ancestor. Since 2017, the IUCN Cat Specialist Group recognizes the tiger subspecies in mainland Asia as populations of P. t. tigris.
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