旋角牛

旋角牛（學名：Pseudonovibos spiralis）是柬埔寨及越南的一種牛科動物，也是旋角牛屬的唯一已知物種，由於實証不足，其真實性至今存疑。

旋角牛
旋角牛的角
保護狀況
數據缺乏
科學分類
界：	動物界 Animalia
門：	脊索動物門 Chordata
綱：	哺乳綱 Mammalia
目：	偶蹄目 Artiodactyla
科：	牛科 Bovidae
亞科：	牛亞科 Bovinae
族：	牛族 Bovini
屬：	旋角牛屬 Pseudonovibos
種：	旋角牛 P. spiralis
二名法
Pseudonovibos spiralis Peter and Feiler, 1994

特徵

旋角牛最初被認為是像牛的動物，有着一對長約45厘米及扭曲的角，身上有斑點。

名稱

旋角牛的柬埔寨名字「kting voar」最初被西方譯為「叢林綿羊」，故被誤會是一種與羊有關的動物。這個柬埔寨名字事實上是「角像籐一般的野牛」。由於混淆，越南曾有報告稱牠們在當地的為名字「羚羊」，但其實那是當地人對鬣羚的稱呼。

旋角牛的學名「Pseudonovibos spiralis」並不有效，因為其完模標本其實是一隻家牛，而此學名的字面意思正好是「有旋角的偽家牛」。

爭議

最初支持旋角牛存在的證據是沃爾夫岡·皮特（Wolfgang Peter）在胡志明市市場購來的一些角。^[1] 皮特認為這些角屬於一個新的物種。^[2]

由於沒有解剖資料，旋角牛的種系發生學地位不明。皮特等人建議將旋角牛分類到羚羊族中^[1]，但從形態分析卻指牠們應屬於牛族^[3][4][5]，更有學者認為是羊族。^[6]遺傳學分析卻造成了更混淆的結果。^{[7][8][9][10]} 不過這些DNA明顯是受到了污染。^[11][12][13] 所有相信是屬於旋角牛及用來進行DNA測試的標本，其實都是人工製成的家牛牛角。^[12][14]

懷疑者都認為旋角牛隻是傳說的動物，但也有學者認為傳說的本身可能代表着一種野生牛族的存在。^[5][15] 若後者是真的，旋角牛應是十分瀕危或甚至已經滅絕。

參考

1. Peter, W.P., Feiler, A. Horns of an unknown bovid species from Vietnam (Mammalia: Ruminantia). Faun. Abh. Mus. Tierkd. Dresden. 1994a, 19: 247–53.
2. Peter, W.P., Feiler, A. A new bovid species from Vietnam and Cambodia (Mammalia: Ruminantia). Zool. Abh. Mus. Tierkd. Dresden. 1994b, 48: 169–76.
3. Dioli M. A clarification about the morphology of the horns of the female kouprey: a new unknown bovid species from Cambodia. Mammalia. 1995, 59: 663–7.
4. Dioli, M. Notes on the morphology of the horns of a new artiodactyl mammal from Cambodia: Pseudonovibos spiralis. J. Zool. (Lond.). 1997, 241: 527–31.
5. Timm, R.M. & Brandt, J.H. Pseudonovibos spiralis (Artiodactyla: Bovidae): new information on this enigmatic South-east Asian ox. J. Zool., Lond. 2001, 253: 157–66.
6. Nadler, T. Was ist Pseudonovibos spiralis?. Zool. Garten N.F. 1997, 67: 290–2.
7. Hammer, S.E., Suchentrunk, F., Tiedemann, R., Hartl, G.B., Feiler, A. Mitochondrial DNA sequence relationships of the newly described enigmatic Vietnamese bovid, Pseudonovibos spiralis. Naturwissenschaften. 1999, 86: 279–80.
8. Kuznetsov, G.V., Kulikov, E.E., Petrov, N.B., Ivanova, N.V., Lomov, A.A., Kholodova, M.V., Poltaraus, A.B. The "linh duong" Pseudonovibos spiralis (Mammalia, Artiodactyla) is a new buffalo. Naturwissenschaften. 2001a, 88: 123–5.
9. Kuznetsov, G.V., Kulikov, E.E., Petrov, N.B., Ivanova, N.V., Lomov, A.A., Kholodova, M.V., Poltaraus, A.B. Taxonomic status and phylogenetic relations of the new genus and species Pseudonovibos spiralis W.P. Peter, A. Feiler, 1994 (Artiodactyla, Bovidae). Zoologičeskij Žurnal. 2001b, 80 (11): 1395–403.
10. Kuznetsov, G.V., Kulikov, E.E., Petrov, N.B., Ivanova, N.V., Lomov, A.A., Kholodova, M.V., Poltaraus, A.B. Mitochondrial 12S rDNA sequence relationships suggest that the enigmatic bovid "linh duong" Pseudonovibos spiralis is closely related to buffalo. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 2002, 23 (1): 91–4.
11. Hassanin, A., Douzery, E. Is the newly described bovid, Pseudonovibos spiralis, a chamois (genus Rupicapra)?. Naturwissenschaften. 2000, 87: 122–4.
12. Hassanin, A. Ancient specimens and DNA contamination: a case study from the 12S rRNA gene sequence of the "linh duong" bovid (Pseudonovibos spiralis). Naturwissenschaften. 2002, 89: 107–10.
13. Olson, L. E. and Hassanin A. Contamination and chimerism are perpetuating the legend of the snake-eating cow with twisted horns (Pseudonovibos spiralis): A case study of the pitfalls of ancient DNA. Mol. Phylogenetics. Evol. 2003, 27 (2): 545–8.
14. Hassanin, A., Seveau, A., Thomas, H., Bocherens, H., Billiou, D. and Nguyen, B.X. Evidence from DNA that the mysterious 'linh duong' (Pseudonovibos spiralis) is not a new bovid. Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences Série III Sciences de la Vie. 2001, 324: 71–80.
15. Brandt, J. H., Dioli, M., Hassanin, A., Melville, R. A., Olson, L. E., Seveau, A., and Timm, R. M. Debate on the authenticity of Pseudonovibos spiralis as a new species of wild bovid from Vietnam and Cambodia. Journal of Zoology. 2001, 255: 437–44.