Taxonomy
Carl Linnaeus applied the binomial Bos bubalis to the domestic water buffalo in his first description of 1758. In 1792, Robert Kerr applied the binomial Bos arnee to the wild species occurring in India north from Bengal. Later authors subordinated the species under either Bos, Bubalus or Buffelus.
In 2003, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature fixed the first available specific name based on a wild population that the name for this wild species is valid by virtue of its being antedated by a name based on a domestic form. Most authors have adopted the binomial Bubalus arnee for the wild species as valid for the taxon.
Only few DNA sequences are available from wild water buffalo populations. Wild populations are considered to be the progenitor of modern domesticated water buffalo, but the genetic variation within the B. arnee species is unclear, and also how they are related to the domesticated river and swamp forms.
Read more about this topic: Wild Water Buffalo