The Subspecies of Leopard

Theses are the nine subspecies of Leopard, as recognised by IUCN: 

1. African leopard 

(P. p. pardus) 

Linnaeus, 1758

Inhabits sub-Saharan Africa

2. Indian leopard

(P. p. fusca) 

Meyer, 1794

Inhabits the Indian Subcontinent

3. Javan leopard 

(P. p. melas) 

Cuvier, 1809 

Inhabits Java, Indonesia

4. Arabian leopard 

(P. p. nimr)

Hemprich and Ehrenberg, 1833

Inhabits the Arabian Peninsula

5. Amur leopard 

(P. p. orientalis) 

Schlegel, 1857

Inhabits the Russian Far East, Korean Peninsula and Northeast China

6. North Chinese leopard 

(P. p. japonensis) 

Gray, 1862

Inhabits northern China

7. Persian leopard - initially described as Caucasian leopard (P. p. ciscaucasica) Satunin, 1914

(P. p. saxicolor)

Pocock, 1927

inhabits the Caucasus, Turkmenistan and northern Iran

8. Indochinese leopard 

(P. p. delacouri)

Pocock, 1930

Inhabits mainland Southeast Asia

9. Sri Lankan leopard 

(P. p. kotiya) 

Deraniyagala, 1956

Inhabits Sri Lanka

A morphological analysis of characters of leopard skulls implies the validity of two more subspecies:

10. Anatolian leopard 

(P. p. tulliana)

Valenciennes, 1856

 Inhabits Western Turkey

11. Balochistan leopard 

(P. p. sindica) 

Pocock, 1930 

Inhabits Pakistan, and possibly also parts of Afghanistan and Iran