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Javan Rhino Scientific names

The following scientific names have been proposed for the species which is now called Javan rhinoceros, Rhinoceros sondaicus. The names are given in alphabetical order with information about author, type-specimen and type-locality and a list of combinations found in the literature.

Current Subspecies recognized

• The Indonesian Javan Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus sondaicus) is the most common of all Javan Rhino subspecies. It once roamed throughout Java and Sumatra, as well as Malaysia, Thailand and Burma. It is now confined to the small peninsula of Ujung Kulon on Western Java. Only 40 to 50 remain.
• The Indochinese Javan Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus annamiticus) or Vietnamese Rhinoceros was once common throughout Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Few specimens survived in the Cat Tien National Park until 2010.
• The Indian Javan Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus inermis) has been declared extinct. It once roamed in India (West Bengal, Assam) and Bangladesh. It has probably gone extinct during the first decades of the 20th century. The females of this subspecies had no horn.

Scientific Synonyms

Names in chronological order

Rhinoceros sondaicus Desmarest, 1822: 399.
Type-specimen: young animal sent to the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris by Pierre Diard and Alfred Duvaucel in 1821 (Desmarest 1822, Cuvier 1822: 24-27). Cuvier 1836b, pl. 55 figured the skeleton.
Type-locality: 'Sumatra' (Desmarest 1822: 399), corrected in supplement to ‘Java’(Desmarest 1822: 547).
Combinations used for this taxon:
Ceratorhinus sondaicus
Eurhinoceros sondaicus
Rhinoceros sondaicus
Rhinoceros sondaicus sondaicus
Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros) sondaicus

Rhinoceros javanicus Geoffroy-St. Hilaire and F.Cuvier, 1824: 2
Type-specimen: not designated.
Type-locality: Java.
Combinations used for this taxon:
Rhinoceros javanicus
Rhinoceros javanensis

Rhinoceros camperis Griffith, [1826?] 1827: 290. Based on de Blainville 1817.
Type-specimen and type-locality: not designated.

Rhinoceros javanus Cuvier, 1829: 247.
Type-specimen: not designated.
Type-locality: Java.
Incorrect subsequent spelling of Rhinoceros javanicus

Rhinoceros camperii Jardine, 1836: 181. Attributed to de Blainville 1817.
Type-specimen and type-locality: not designated.

Rhinoceros inermis Lesson, 1836: 399.
Type-specimen: Hornless female and young collected by F.V. Lamare-Picquot, first deposited in the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris (Geoffroy et al. 1831), in 1836 transferred to Berlin Museum (Peters 1877). Skulls and skins of both specimens preserved in the Zoologisches Museum Berlin, no. An. 10603 ('Typus' and 'Paratypus') - cf. Rookmaaker, 1997
Type-locality: 'Les Sundries' = Sunderbunds, Bangladesh.
Combinations used for this taxon:
Rhinoceros inermis
Rhinoceros sondaicus inermis

Rhinoceros sivalensis Falconer and Cautley, 1847: pl.73 figs. 2-3; pl.74 figs. 5-6; pl.75 figs. 5-6.
Type-specimen: Royal College of Surgeons of England, London, no. 2934.
Type-locality: 'upper Siwaliks', restricted to 'Ratnapura series', Ceylon by Deraniyagala (1938); fossil probably from Upper Pleistocene.

Rhinoceros nasalis Gray, 1868: 1012, figs. 1, 2.
Type-specimen: British Museum (Natural History), nos. 723b (= 55.4.4.4) and 723c.
Type-locality: 'Borneo'.

Rhinoceros floweri Gray, 1868: 1015, figs. 3, 4.
Type-specimen: Royal College of Surgeons of England, London, no. 2934.
Type-locality: Sumatra (Flower 1876: 450).
Combinations used for this taxon:
Rhinoceros floweri
Rhinoceros sondaicus floweri

Rhinoceros frontalis von Martens, 1876: 257.
Type-locality: 'Borneo'.
Lapsus for R. nasalis.

Rhinoceros karnuliensis Lydekker, 1886: 120, 121
Type-locality: 'Karnul Caves', Karnul District, Madras, India.
Fossil from the late Pleistocene.

Rhinoceros karnuliensish Lydekker, 1886: 121
Incorrect subsequent spelling of Rhinoceros karnuliensis.

Rhinoceros annamiticus Heude, 1892: 75, pl. XIXA figs. 1,3,4 (besides ‘R.javanus’).
Type-specimen: 3 teeth figured by Heude 1892 (cf. Groves & Guerin 1980. fig. 4).
Type-locality: 'Cochin-chine' ( Heude 1892), restricted to 'Vietnam' by Groves and Guérin 1980: 199.
Subspecies redefined by Groves and Guérin 1980. Combinations used for this taxon:
Rhinoceros annamiticus
Rhinoceros son daicus annamiticus
Rhinoceros sondaicus annamiticus

Rhinoceros sivasondaicus Dubois, 1908: 1245, 1258
Type-locality: 'Kendeng', = Solo Valley, Java, Indonesia.
Fossil from the Upper Pleistocene.

Rhinoceros boschi von Koenigswald, 1933: 121 (Wetenschappelijke Mededelingen Dienst van den Mijnbouw in Nederlandsch-Indie¨ 23:1–185).
Type-locality: 'Java'.
Fossil from the late Pliocene.

Rhinoceros sinhaleyus sinhaleyus Deraniyagala, 1938: 234, 235, fig. 2.
Type-locality: 'Ratnapura series', Sri Lanka.
Fossil probably from Upper Pleistocene.

Rhinoceros javanensis Barnard, 1932: 185
Incorrect subsequent spelling of Rhinoceros javanicus

Rhinoceros sondaicus simplisinus Deraniyagala, 1946: 162, fig. 2, pl. XXI.
Type-locality: 'Pothu kola Deniya, Nivitigala, near a tributary of the Hangamu ganga', Sri Lanka.
Fossil probably from middle Pleistocene.

Rhinoceros sondaicus guthi Guérin, 1973 in Beden and Guérin, 1973: 19
Type-locality: 'Phnom Loang (Province de Kampot, Cambodge)', Cambodia.
Fossil from the Pleistocene.