NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Lake Victoria Sitatunga
Tragelaphus spekii Speke, 1863
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.
Open encyclopedia reference
The sitatunga (Tragelaphus spekii) or marshbuck is a swamp-dwelling medium-sized antelope found throughout central Africa, centering on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, parts of Southern Sudan, Equatorial Guinea, Burundi, Ghana, Botswana, Rwanda, Zambia, Gabon, the Central African Republic, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.
The sitatunga is mostly confined to swampy and marshy habitats. They occur in tall and dense vegetation as well as seasonal swamps, marshy clearings in forests, riparian thickets and mangrove swamps.
Wikipedia contributors, Sitatunga; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T10:11:16.535328+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Tragelaphus spekii Speke, 1863
- Name authority
- Speke, 1863
- Common name
- Lake Victoria Sitatunga
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Artiodactyla
- Family
- Bovidae
- Genus
- Tragelaphus
- 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
- subfamilyBovinae Gray, 1821
- tribeTragelaphini Blyth, 1863
- genusTragelaphus Blainville, 1816
- speciesTragelaphus spekii Speke, 1863
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Tragelaphus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| GedemsaTragelaphus buxtoni (Lydekker, 1910) | BovidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| BongoTragelaphus eurycerus (Ogilby, 1837) | BovidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| BushbuckTragelaphus scriptus (Pallas, 1766) | BovidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Nile SitatungaTragelaphus larkenii (St. Leger, 1931) | BovidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Nkosi Island SitatungaTragelaphus sylvestris (Meinertzhagen, 1916) | 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 |
|---|---|
| Tragelaphus spekii spekii Speke, 1863 Speke, 1863 | 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=625133 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. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
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:57VQT. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.