Capybaras
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Capybara ( Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris ) |
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| Hydrochoerus | ||||||||||||
| Brisson , 1762 |
The capybaras or capybaras ( Hydrochoerus ) are a rodent species in the family of guinea pigs (Caviidae). The genus consists of two species, the Capybara ( Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris ) and the Panama Capybara ( Hydrochoerus isthmius ). Capybaras are the largest rodents living today. The species inhabit humid regions in South and Central America and are adapted in their physique to a semi-aquatic (partly in water) way of life.
features
When fully grown, Capybaras reach heights of 1.00 to 1.30 meters and a weight of 27 to 79 kilograms, whereby the Panama Capybara remains significantly smaller and lighter than the Capybara. In both species the tail is clearly reduced and the body hair is sparse and rough, it consists of long hair. The back color is reddish-brown to gray, the ventral side is yellowish-brown. The head is large and broad with a large and blunt muzzle. The eyes are very far back on the head. The legs are comparatively short. Like other relatives of guinea pigs, the animals have four toes on their front feet and only three toes on their back feet. These are arranged radially and some have webbed feet.
The rows of teeth approach one another towards the front. The incisors are white and have shallow pits on the front. The molars are permanently growing and have a stronger and more complex sculpted surface than other guinea pig relatives. The molar M3 is greatly enlarged and extends beyond the other three molars together.
Distribution area and habitat
The Capybaras occur in two separate distribution areas in South and Central America. The Panama Capybara occurs in the smaller part, in eastern Panama , northern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela . The greater part is inhabited by the Capybara and includes almost all of South America east of the Andes from eastern Colombia, Venezuela and the Guyana states via Ecuador , Peru , Brazil , Bolivia and Paraguay to Uruguay and north-eastern Argentina .
Systematics
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Phylogenetic systematics of guinea pigs (Caviidae)
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The capybara was first described by Carl von Linné and mentioned by him in 1766 in the 12th edition of his Systema Naturae within the pigs as Sus hydrochaeris . Mathurin-Jacques Brisson established the genus Hydrochoerus in 1762 , to which the Capybara with Linnaeus type was later assigned. This generic description was considered invalid in the 1970s because Brisson did not work according to strictly binomial systematics and naming in 1762, but the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) confirmed its validity in 1998. The first scientific description of the Panama Capybara within the genus was made in 1912 by Edward Alphonso Goldman . For a long time the Panama Capybara was assigned to the Capybara as a subspecies, but it has been considered a separate species since the 1990s and is currently widely recognized as such.
The capybaras are often regarded as the only recent member of the giant rodent family (Hydrochoeridae). However, genetic studies have shown that the mountain guinea pig is more closely related to the capybara than to the real guinea pigs , making them a paraphyletic group. More recent systematics such as Wilson & Reeder (2005) therefore assign the capybaras to the guinea pigs and summarize the genus together with the mountain guinea pigs in the subfamily of Hydrochoerinae within the guinea pigs (Caviidae). Whether the actual guinea pigs or the pampas rabbits (Dolichotinae) are to be considered as sister group of the Hydrochoerinae has not yet been conclusively clarified and varies with the various authors. According to Rowe & Honeycutt 2002, the Dolichotinae and the Hydrochoerinae are combined, followed by Vucetich et al. 2012 while Pérez & Vucetich 2011 merge the Hydrochoerinae and the Caviinae.
Within the rodents they belong to the superfamily of guinea pigs (Cavioidea), to which the Agutis and Acouchis (Dasyproctidae), the Pakas (Cuniculidae) and the Pakarana (Dinomyidae) belong.
Fossil history
Fossil ancestors of the Capybaras and other representatives of the Hydrochoerinae are occupied with several genera since the upper Miocene . The early forms are summarized in the subfamily of Cardiatheriinae, which is, however, paraphyletic , as the younger representatives of the group developed from them. The subfamily Protohydrochoerinae with the only genus Chapalmatherium is known from the Pliocene (also known as Protohydrochoerus ). All of the giant rodents' fossils come from the American continent. The skulls of these animals were twice as large as those of today's capybaras, and their limbs were significantly longer.
The subfamily of Hydrochoerinae, which also includes the Capybaras, has been documented since the Upper Pliocene. Fossil finds of the genus itself are known from the Pleistocene in North America and the early to middle Pleistocene in South America, with the fossil species Hydrochoerus ballesterensis being regarded as an extinct species in addition to the more recent species .
supporting documents
- ↑ a b c d James L. Patton: Genus Hydrochoerus Brisson, 1762 In: James L. Patton, Ulyses FJ Pardinas, Guillermo D'Elía (ed.): Mammals of South America, Volume 2 - Rodents. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 2015; Pp. 720-721, ISBN 978-0-226-16957-6 .
- ↑ a b c James L. Patton: Hydrochoeris isthmius Goldmann 1912 In: James L. Patton, Ulyses FJ Pardinas, Guillermo D'Elía (ed.): Mammals of South America, Volume 2 - Rodents. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 2015; Pp. 723-724, ISBN 978-0-226-16957-6 .
- ↑ James L. Patton: Hydrochoeris hydrochoeris (Linnaeus, 1766) In: James L. Patton, Ulyses FJ Pardinas, Guillermo D'Elía (eds.): Mammals of South America, Volume 2 - Rodents. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 2015; Pp. 721-723, ISBN 978-0-226-16957-6 .
- ^ A b c Diane L. Rowe, Rodney L. Honeycutt: Phylogenetic Relationships, Ecological Correlates, and Molecular Evolution Within the Cavioidea (Mammalia, Rodentia). Molecular Biology and Evolution 19 (3), 2002; Pp. 263-277. ( Full text )
- ↑ Carl von Linné : Systema naturae ... 12th edition 1766, p. 103. ( digitized version )
- ↑ a b c d Alvaro Mones, Juhani Ojasti: Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris. in: Mammalian Species . No. 264, 1986, ISSN 0076-3519 , pp. 1-7, online (PF; 850 KB; PDF) .
- ↑ a b c Hydrochoeris ( Memento of the original from January 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: Don E. Wilson , DeeAnn M. Reeder (Eds.): Mammal Species of the World. A taxonomic and geographic Reference. 2 volumes. 3. Edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8221-4 .
- ↑ a b James L. Patton: Subfamily Hydrochoerinae Gray, 1825 In: James L. Patton, Ulyses FJ Pardinas, Guillermo D'Elía (Ed.): Mammals of South America, Volume 2 - Rodents. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 2015; P. 720, ISBN 978-0-226-16957-6 .
- ↑ María Guiomar Vucetich, Cecilia M. Deschamps, María E. Pérez: Paleontology, Evolution and Systematics of Capybara. In: José Roberto Moreira, Katia Maria PMB Ferraz, Emilio A. Herrera, David W. Macdonald (Eds.): Capybara. Biology, Use and Conservation of an Exceptional Neotropical Species. Springer Science & Business Media 2012; Pp. 39-59, ISBN 978-1-4614-3999-8 .
- ↑ María Encarnación Pérez, María Guiomar Vucetich: A New Extinct Genus of Cavioidea (Rodentia, Hystricognathi) from the Miocene of Patagonia (Argentina) and the Evolution of Cavioid Mandibular Morphology. Journal of Mammalian Evolution 18 (3), September 2011; Pp. 163-183. doi : 10.1007 / s10914-011-9154-1 .
literature
- Alvaro Mones, Juhani Ojasti: Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris. in: Mammalian Species . No. 264, 1986, ISSN 0076-3519 , pp. 1-7, online (PF; 850 KB; PDF) .
- James L. Patton: Subfamily Hydrochoerinae Gray, 1825 and Genus Hydrochoerus Brisson, 1762 In: James L. Patton, Ulyses FJ Pardinas, Guillermo D'Elía (Eds.): Mammals of South America, Volume 2 - Rodents. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 2015; P. 720 ff, ISBN 978-0-226-16957-6 .
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. 2 volumes. 6th edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD et al. 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
- Don E. Wilson , DeeAnn M. Reeder (Eds.): Mammal Species of the World. A taxonomic and geographic Reference. 2 volumes. 3. Edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8221-4 .
- Marek Stachowski: Is the English guinea pig a pig from Guinea, and the German Guinea pig a piggy from the sea ?, or two old problems revisited. - Studia Linguistica Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis 131/2 (2014): 221–228 [1]
