This enigmatic antelope is known only from a single male specimen in the Berlin Museum, apparently collected in 1825 and attributed to the Farasan Islands in the Red Sea. However, there is some doubt as to whether the specimen in fact originated from the Farasans and its former distribution and status may never be known (Mallon and Kingswood 2001). Skull characteristics distinguish the specimen from all other gazelles. It is highly unlikely that the specimen represents a former wild population of gazelles on the Farasan Islands. The gazelles that now occur on the Farasan Islands are a subspecies of G. gazella (Thouless et al. 1991).