Western Lowland Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) Fact Sheet: Taxonomy & History

Two species and four subspecies of gorilla recognized, as of 2016 (Maisels et al. 2016; Plumptre et al. 2016)

• Gorilla gorilla (western gorilla)
• Subspecies
• G. g. gorilla (western lowland gorilla)
• G. g. diehli (cross river gorilla)
• Diverged approx. 18,000 years ago
• Gorilla beringei (eastern gorilla)
• Historically a subspecies of Gorilla gorilla
• Considered a separate species since 2001
• Subspecies
• G. b. graueri (Grauer's Gorilla)
• G. b. beringei (Mountain Gorilla)
• Both Critically Endangered

Phylogeny

• Closest relative: Pan (Chimpanzee) 
• Humans, chimpanzees and gorillas share a common ancestor not shared by orangutans (Groves 2000).
• Molecular studies by Ruvolo (1994) indicate substantial distance between eastern and western species. Diverged 2 million years ago.

Describer :  Savage & Wyman (1847). Boston Journal of Natural History, 5:417

Kingdom: Animal

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Primates

Family: Hominidae

Subfamily: Homininae

Genus: Gorilla

Species: Gorilla gorilla (Western gorilla)

Subspecies: Gorilla gorilla gorilla (Western lowland gorilla)

Clifford, (2004)
Garner & Ryder, (1996)
Groves, (2001)
Groves, (2006)
Ruvolo, (1994)
Sarmiento, (2000)
Wilson & Reeder, (2005)