Panthera tigris sudanensis

"Panthera tigris sudanensis" is a claimed subspecies of tiger from the Sudan which has not been officially confirmed by the scientific community.

1951
Dr. Paulus Edward Pieris Deraniyagala, a palaeontologist and zoologist from Sri Lanka, spotted a tiger skin in a Cairo bazaar. Deraniyagala questioned the seller on the origin of the fur which, according to the latter, was from a tiger shot in the Sudan. Vratislav Mazák, a Czech biologist, wrote in a 1980 paper that either the seller's response was a joke or out of courtesy, regardless to whether or not it was truthful. Deraniyagala took a picture of the skin which was soon published.

Identification
After the photograph was published, upon scientific review, it was suggested that the skin belonged to a Caspian tiger (Panthera tigris virgata) which, at the time, was on the brink of extinction. This suggests that the specimen was smuggled from either Iran or Turkey, countries within the Caspian tiger's geographical range.

If the photograph was enough to verify the creature's identity, "Panthera tigris sudanensis" would have become a synonym for Panthera tigris virgata; as Mazák wrote, "the situation is half-humorous, half-ironic."