Abstract

The Indian Pangolin Manis crassicaudata is one of the eight extant pangolin species in the world, occurring in the Indian subcontinent and is the solitary pangolin species recorded in Sri Lanka. Little is known about the intra-specific morphometric variations of the Indian Pangolin, largely due to the limited observations. In this note, we report the morphometrics of the largest Indian Pangolin recorded so far in its range, and consequently the largest pangolin ever to be recorded according to published information. These records along with observations from other range countries provide novel insights into the maximum growth of male Indian Pangolins.

Highlights

  • Record of the world’s biggest pangolin? New observations of bodyweight and total body length of the Indian Pangolin Manis crassicaudata Gray, 1827 (Mammalia: Pholidota: Manidae) from Mannar District, Sri Lanka

  • The global population of M. crassicaudata has been identified as Endangered (EN) by the IUCN, and the species has been further included in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES; Mahmood et al 2019)

  • The Indian Pangolin is the only pangolin species occurring in Sri Lanka, and the species is distributed throughout the lowlands, from coastal habitats up to 1,850m (Perera & Karawita 2020)

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Summary

PLATINUM OPEN ACCESS

The Journal of Threatened Taxa (JoTT) is dedicated to building evidence for conservation globally by publishing peer-reviewed articles online every month at a reasonably rapid rate at www.threatenedtaxa.org. All articles published in JoTT are registered under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License unless otherwise mentioned.

Journal of Threatened Taxa
Threatened Taxa
Hind Limbs
Largest Specimen Recorded
Short Communications
Full Text
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