BULLETIN FLORIDA MUSEUM NATURAL HISTORY VOL 40(3)


 (Biological Surveys Collection), Washington, D.C. Collected by B. V. Lilly,
 June 17, 1905.
Felis concolor coryi (Bangs 1899) Nelson and Goldman, 1929. J. Mamm.,
 10(4):347. Same as Felis coryi Bangs 1899 (see above).

 Systematists prefer the use of Puma instead of Felis Jardine (1834). We
follow this convention according to Wilson and Reeder 1993.
 Nelson and Goldman (1929) synonomized Felis arundivaga Hollister 1911,
the canebrake puma, with Felis concolor coryi, the Florida puma. According to
them, the Louisiana pumas did not appear to be satisfactorily separable from the
Florida race, although the skull of type specimen and one other slightly exceed
those from Florida in length.

 HISTORICAL AND RECENT DISTRIBUTION

 The former range of P. c. coryi was thought to be the austroriparian zones in
eastern Texas or western Louisiana and the lower Mississippi River Valley east
through the southeastern states in general, intergrading to the north with P. c.
couguar, and to the west and northwest with P. c. stanleyana and P. c. hippolestes
(Goldman 1946). Archeological and early records of pumas exist for Alabama
(1880), Arkansas (1821-1920), Georgia (1773-1920), Louisiana (1819-1943), and
Mississippi (1758-1880) (Young 1946, pp. 12, 14, 19, 23, and 26). In recent years
there have been panther reports over much of the historical range (reviewed in
Layne and McCauley 1976) and include sightings or specimens from Alabama,
Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee (Goertz and Abegg 1966, Eaton
1971, Jenkins 1971, Noble 1971, Wolfe 1971, Sealander and Gipson 1973, Lowery
1974, Lowman 1975, Morine 1976). Only seven specimens outside of Florida
could be located: Lousiana (4)-the type specimen (USNM 137122, 1905) from
Concordia Parish, two specimens from Prairie mer Rouge (1800s), and one from
Caddo Parish (1965); Arkansas (2)-Ashley County (1969) and Logan County
(1975); South Carolina (l)-with conflicting data suggesting it was either from
Oregon or South Carolina (records of ANSP) (Appendix 3).
 Archeological and paleontological evidence exists for pumas in the
southeastern United States outside of Florida (Parmalee 1960, Kurten 1965, Reitz
and Roe, Univ. Georgia, pers. comm.). Within Florida, Pleistocene fossil have
been recovered throughout the peninsula from Dade County in the south to
Columbia County near the Georgia border (Webb 1974, Kurten 1976, Morgan
1997).
 The Florida panther was believed to be extinct in north Florida by the turn of
the century (Bangs 1898) although northern sightings and actual shootings have
been reported since that time (Tinsley 1970, Layne and McCauley 1976, Belden
1986a, and Konecny and Eisenberg 1984). Historic and recent specimens from
Florida (Fig. 1) are restricted to the southern part of the state. The northern-most