NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Queen of Sheba's Gazelle
Gazella bilkis Groves & Lay, 1985
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
A former species of antelope that once lived in the southwest Arabian peninsula, last seen in 1951
The Great Mule of Eupatoria · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The Queen of Sheba's gazelle or Yemen gazelle (Gazella bilkis) is an extinct species of gazelle. It was sometimes regarded as a subspecies of the Arabian gazelle, which is no longer a valid species. It was found on the mountains and hillsides in Yemen, but none have been sighted since 1951, when five specimens were collected in mountains near Ta'izz, where it was reportedly common at the time.
Surveys in the area of their former occurrence have failed to find any sign of its presence. In 1985, a photograph of gazelles was taken in a private collection, Al Wabra Wildlife Farm, in Qatar. Zoologist Colin Groves claimed these could possibly be surviving Queen of Sheba's gazelles. It is not confirmed whether these animals truly belong to this species.
The cause of extinction is still uncertain.
Wikipedia contributors, Queen of Sheba's gazelle; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T12:39:53.571668+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Gazella bilkis Groves & Lay, 1985
- Name authority
- Groves & Lay, 1985
- Common name
- Queen of Sheba's Gazelle
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Artiodactyla
- Family
- Bovidae
- Genus
- Gazella
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
- subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
- infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
- orderArtiodactyla Owen, 1848
- familyBovidae Gray, 1821
- subfamilyAntilopinae Gray, 1821
- tribeAntilopini Gray, 1821
- genusGazella Blainville, 1816
- speciesGazella bilkis Groves & Lay, 1985
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Gazella. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Arabian GazelleGazella arabica (Lichtenstein, 1827) | BovidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Deccan ChinkaraGazella bennettii (Sykes, 1831) | BovidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Arabian Coastal GazelleGazella erlangeri Neumann, 1906 | BovidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Saudi Arabian gazelleGazella saudiya Carruthers & Schwarz, 1935 | BovidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Speke's GazelleGazella spekei Blyth, 1863 | BovidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Goitered GazelleGazella subgutturosa (Güldenstaedt, 1780) | BovidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Arabian gazelleGazella gazella (Pallas, 1766) | BovidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Cuvier's GazelleGazella cuvieri (Ogilby, 1841) | BovidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Sand GazelleGazella marica Thomas, 1897 | BovidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Western JebeerGazella shikarii Groves, 1993 | BovidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Pelzeln's GazelleGazella pelzelni Kohl, 1886 | BovidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Salt Range GazelleGazella salinarum Groves, 2003 | BovidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Gazella arabica bilkis Groves & Lay, 1985 Groves & Lay, 1985 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=625089 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3FG39. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.