Leopard to Sanskrit ("snake", "tiger" or "panther"), and probably derives from a Mediterranean language, such as Egyptian. The name was first used in the 13th century. Other vernacular names for the leopard include graupanther, panther and several regional names such as "tendwa" in India. The term "black panther" refers to leopards with melanistic genes. A term for the leopard used in Old English and later, but now very uncommon, is "pard". The scientific name of the leopard is "Panthera pardus". The generic name "Panthera" derives from Latin via Greek πάνθηρ ("pánthēr"). The term "panther", whose first recorded use dates back to
Black panther can be littermates. It is thought that melanism may confer a selective advantage under certain conditions since it is more common in regions of dense forest, where light levels are lower. Recently, preliminary studies also suggest that melanism might be linked to beneficial mutations in the immune system. Data on the distribution of leopard populations indicates that melanism occurs in seven subspecies: Javan leopard ("P. p. melas"), African leopard ("P. p. pardus"), Indian leopard ("P. p. fusca"), Indochinese leopard ("P. p. delacouri"), Sri Lankan leopard ("P. p. kotiya"), Arabian leopard and Amur leopard ("P. p. orientalis"). Black leopards are common