No longer regionally extinct: a review of Pallas’s Cat Otocolobus manul records from the Caucasus with a new record from Armenia (Mammalia: Felidae)

Abstract

The Pallas’s Cat Otocolobus manul is among the rarest mammals of the Caucasus, being recorded only in the 1920–1930s in south-western Armenia and once observed (skin) in 1996 in the neighbouring areas of the Arax basin. For this reason, so far it was considered as regionally extinct in the Caucasus. In this paper we present a recent (January 2020) record of this species in north-eastern Armenia about 140 km away from the nearest historical sites. We provide details of this record and associated habitats, and discuss all published information known so far on the historical occurrence of the species in the Caucasus. We show that only five small areas are suitable for the existence of this species in Armenia. The western limits of Khosrov Forest State Reserve hold the largest tract of suitable habitats. Protected areas play a minor role in Pallas’s Cat conservation.