Common pygmy anteater

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Common pygmy anteater
Common pygmy anteater (Cyclopes didactylus)

Common pygmy anteater ( Cyclopes didactylus )

Systematics
Superordinate : Sub-articulated animals (Xenarthra)
Order : Tooth arms (pilosa)
Subordination : Anteaters (Vermilingua)
Family : Cyclopedidae
Genre : Pygmy Anteaters ( Cyclopes )
Type : Common pygmy anteater
Scientific name
Cyclopes didactylus
( Linnaeus , 1758)

The common pygmy anteater ( Cyclopes didactylus ) is a species of mammal belonging to the genus of pygmy anteaters . Originally it was often referred to only as the "dwarf anteater", but the common name included animals from the entire range of the genus. It is the nominate form , which was described as early as 1758. The animals are characterized by a brownish yellow fur and a darker central stripe on the back and stomach. They are common in the northeastern part of South America . A second population lives separated from all other pygmy anteaters in the Atlantic coastal forests in Brazil. The main habitat is rainforests , where the animals are nocturnal, solitary and tree-climbing. The main food consists of insects .

description

Habitus

The common dwarf anteater is the type of dwarf anteater. Three examined individuals from Suriname had a head-torso length of 16.8 to 24.4 cm and a tail length of 21.8 to 23.5 cm. The weight varied from 230 to 374 g. Another individual from French Guiana was 18 cm long, had a 19.5 cm tail, and weighed 180 g. The tail is generally longer than the body and tapering towards the end; it can be used as a gripper . The animals are colored brownish yellow on the back and the belly. It is characterized by a dark median stripe that occurs in the common pygmy anteater on both the back and the stomach. As a rule, the stripes are clearly recognizable, but sometimes the belly side becomes somewhat blurred. Only the Xingu dwarf anteater ( Cyclopes xinguensis ) also has median strips on both sides, but these are much less pronounced. Like most other dwarf anteaters, the individual hairs also have no medullary canal. The ears are 12 to 13 mm long. The limbs are greyish in color. As with all representatives of the dwarf anteaters, two rays with strong claws are formed on the hands and four on the feet. The rear foot length ranges from 29 to 34 mm.

Skull features

The skull becomes 40.5 to 52.4 mm long and at the cranium 21.9 to 23.9 mm wide. The forehead line shows a clearly arched course, the base of the skull is concave opposite. There is a marked indentation at the contact between the nasal and frontal bones . The suture between the frontal bone and the parietal bone has a trapezoidal shape, while the suture between the frontal bone and the upper jaw is very short. The side seams between the nasal bone and the upper jaw diverge forward. The external auditory canal opens to the front, and at the base of the skull the alar bone overlies the tympanic membrane .

distribution

The common pygmy anteater is endemic to South America . The species may have a two-part distribution area. One area comprises the areas north of the Amazon and east of the Rio Negro or the Río Vaupés . To the north it extends on both sides of the Orinoco into northern Venezuela , further east it includes Guyana , Suriname and French Guiana , as well as the island of Trinidad . In the eastern Amazon basin , the species also occurs south of the Amazon in the Brazilian states of Pará , Maranhão and Piauí . The second, separate occurrence is located in northeastern Brazil in the Atlantic coastal forests along the coast, including the states of Rio Grande do Norte , Paraíba , Pernambuco and Alagoas . This local population is distributed over an area of ​​around 25,000 km², with the coastal forests only covering around 3,000 km² as a habitat. It is separated from the tropical rainforests of the Amazon basin by a corridor around 1000 km wide . The corridor, which consists of the dry Caatinga landscapes, acts as a migration barrier and may have been created at the end of the Pleistocene . The species inhabits the tropical rainforests of the lowlands, but sometimes also penetrates into urban areas. In the north-west of the island of Trinidad, a population density of 4.6 to 5.5 individuals per square kilometer was found in a swampy mangrove landscape.

Way of life

Like all pygmy anteaters, the animals are nocturnal, solitary and exclusively tree-dwelling. In the trees they move slowly forward and use the long tail as a grasping organ to shimmy in the branches. During the day they often rest curled up in tree hollows or on forks with their tails wrapping around a branch. Insects such as wasps , ants and termites serve as main food ; for Suriname, for example, field wasps are given as prey. Investigations of the stomach contents of animals from the vicinity of São Luís in the Brazilian state of Maranhão revealed the majority of ants, around 48% fell on fire ants and 18.5% on horse ants, and another 26% were taken by representatives of the genus Dolichoderus . After a gestation period of 120 to 150 days, females usually give birth to a young. Most births occur between September and November. The boy is carried on his back for a while. It remains with the mother until it is about two-thirds the size of an adult animal. Like all anteaters, the common pygmy anteater defends itself with the claws of its front feet.

Systematics

Internal systematics of pygmy anteaters according to Miranda et al. 2017
  Cyclopes  


 Cyclopes rufus


   

 Cyclopes thomasi



   

 Cyclopes ida


   

 Cyclopes xinguensis


   

 Cyclopes dorsalis


   

 Cyclopes didactylus






Template: Klade / Maintenance / Style

No genetic data are yet available for Cyclopes catellus

Tablet from Seba's Thesaurus 1734, the pygmy anteater is shown at the bottom left

The common pygmy anteater is a species from the genus of pygmy anteaters ( Cyclopes ), which, according to molecular genetic studies from 2017, contains a total of seven species. The genus in turn forms the only recent member of the thus monotypical family of the Cyclopedidae within the suborder of the anteaters (Vermilingua). The family is the sister taxon of the Myrmecophagidae , which include the remaining anteaters with the genera Myrmecophaga and Tamandua . The dwarf anteaters are the smallest representatives of the anteaters and are completely adapted to a tree life. According to molecular genetic analyzes, the closest relative of the common pygmy anteater is the species Cyclopes dorsalis, which is widespread in northwestern South America and Central America . Both lines separated from each other in the Pliocene around 3 million years ago, which may have coincided with the last phase of unfolding of the Andes . The two subpopulations of the common pygmy anteater are not currently considered to be different taxonomic units. However, their splitting goes back to the beginning of the Pleistocene about 2.3 million years ago. The close relationship of the pygmy anteaters of the eastern Amazon region, including Suriname and French Guiana, to those of northeastern Brazil had already been recognized in genetic studies, as had the close relationship of the entire group to the pygmy anteaters of northwestern South America.

The first scientific description of the common pygmy anteater comes from Linnaeus in 1758 under the name Myrmecophaga didactyla . Linnaeus obtained his information about the species from the first volume of the Thesaurus by Albert Seba from 1734, including the structure of the hands from two and the feet from four rays. Linnaeus also used a catalog from the museum of the Swedish King Adolf Friedrich , whose exhibits are now in the Naturhistoriska riksmuseet in Stockholm, as a further basis . Linnaeus only gave America australi as the type region for the common pygmy anteater . Oldfield Thomas restricted this to Suriname in 1911, as Seba often obtained his information on South America from there. Only five years after Linnaeus, Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon dealt extensively with the common pygmy anteater in his extensive work Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière and also depicted an animal. Several individuals from the Cabinet du roi in Paris were available to him for his work . Later, Thomas Pennant also devoted himself to the art in his History of Quadrupeds from 1781. Robert Kerr then discussed in 1792 differences in the illustrations of the works of Buffon and Pennant. He concluded from Buffon's depiction of the animal, which only shows a claw on the forefoot, that a species called Myrmecophaga monodactyla must also exist. However, Buffon's skeletal representation clearly refers to an animal with two claws. Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest introduced another name in 1822 with Myrmecophaga unicolor , which he established due to the lack of typical median formation. In the opinion of René Primevère Lesson , however, these should be female animals. The current name, Cyclopes didactylus , was first used by Oldfield Thomas in 1900.

In 1928 Einar Lönnberg established the subspecies Caclopes didactylus melini , which has similar external features as the nominate form , but which lacked the belly stripe. The description was based on animals from the Rio Negro . Until the beginning of the 21st century, the pygmy anteaters were considered monotypical with a species that bore the scientific name Cyclopes didactylus . Several subspecies were distinguished within the species, with Cyclopes didactylus melini mainly inhabiting the Amazon basin . However, the genetic and morphological studies from 2017 showed that the pygmy anteaters in general and especially those of the Amazon basin are more diverse than originally assumed. The research group around Flávia R. Miranda therefore divided the genus Cyclopes into seven species. In the course of this split, they classified Cyclopes didactylus melini as a synonym of Cyclopes didactylus .

Threat and protection

The IUCN does not currently differentiate the pygmy anteaters into different species and lists the entire population of the genus as "not endangered" ( least concern ). The eastern coastal population of the common pygmy anteater, on the other hand, is listed by the nature conservation organization in the category “ data deficient ”. In general, deforestation is a problem, which not only leads to habitat loss, but also to the fragmentation of suitable habitats . The Atlantic coastal forests have now shrunk to only about 5% of their former range. Most of it fell victim to the expansion of sugar cane plantations . The species is represented in several nature reserves, including in the Guiana Amazonian Park in French Guiana.

literature

  • Flávia R. Miranda, Daniel M. Casali, Fernando A. Perini, Fabio A. Machado and Fabrício R. Santos: Taxonomic review of the genus Cyclopes Gray, 1821 (Xenarthra: Pilosa), with the revalidation and description of new species. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 20, 2017, pp. 1–35 doi: 10.1093 / zoolinnean / zlx079
  • Flávia R. Miranda: Cyclopedidae (Silky anteaters). In: Don E. Wilson and Russell A. Mittermeier (eds.): Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Volume 8: Insectivores, Sloths and Colugos. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2018, pp. 92-102 (pp. 100-101) ISBN 978-84-16728-08-4

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e A. M. Husson: Mammals of Suriname. Leiden, 1978, pp. 1-729 (pp. 245-247)
  2. ↑ C. Richard-Hansen, J.-C. Vié, N. Vidal and J. Kéravec: Body measurements on 40 species of mammals from French Guiana. Journal of Zoology 247, 1999, pp. 419-428
  3. ↑ Virginia Hayssen, Flávia Miranda and Bret Pasch: Cyclopes didactylus (Pilosa: Cyclopedidae). Mammalian Species 44 (1), 2012, pp. 51-58
  4. ↑ a b c d e f Flávia R. Miranda, Daniel M. Casali, Fernando A. Perini, Fabio A. Machado and Fabrício R. Santos: Taxonomic review of the genus Cyclopes Gray, 1821 (Xenarthra: Pilosa), with the revalidation and description of new species. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 20, 2017, pp. 1-35
  5. ↑ a b c Flávia R. Miranda: Cyclopedidae (Silky anteaters). In: Don E. Wilson and Russell A. Mittermeier (eds.): Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Volume 8: Insectivores, Sloths and Colugos. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2018, pp. 92-102 (pp. 100-101) ISBN 978-84-16728-08-4
  6. ↑ Flávia Miranda and Mariella Superina: Cyclopes didactylus, Northeastern Brazil subpopulation. Edentata 11 (2), 2010, p. 101
  7. ↑ Flávia Miranda and Mariella Superina: New distribution record of the silky anteater Cyclopes didactylus (Pilosa, Cyclopedidae) in coastal Northeastern Brazil. Mastozoología Neotropical, 17 (2), 2010, pp. 381-384
  8. ↑ Monique Pool, Ruby Boateng, Ann-Marie Ako-Adounvo, Rachelle Allen-McFarlane, Diana Elizondo, Henri Paturault, Haifa Alhawas and Georgee Middendorf: Sloths in the city: unexpectedly high density of pale-throated three-toed sloths (Bradypus tridactylus ) found in an urban forest patch in Paramaribo, Suriname. Edentata 17, 2016, pp. 25-33
  9. ↑ Hanaa Bhagratty, Kele Taylor, Andrew Lawrence, Eleanor S. Devenish-Nelson and Howard P. Nelson: Population density of silky anteaters (Cyclopes didactylus Xenarthra: Cyclopedidae) in a protected mangrove swamp on the island of Trinidad. Mammalia 77 (4), 2013, pp. 447-450
  10. ↑ Flávia Miranda, Roberto Veloso, Mariella Superina and Fernando José Zara: Food Habits of Wild Silky Anteaters (Cyclopes didactylus) of São Luis do Maranhão, Brazil. Edentata 8-10, 2009, pp. 1-5
  11. ^ Alfred L. Gardner: Suborder Vermilingua Illiger, 1811. in: Alfred L. Gardner (Ed.): Mammals of South America, Volume 1: Marsupials, Xenarthrans, Shrews, and Bats. University of Chicago Press, 2008, pp. 168-178
  12. Jump up ↑ Raphael Teodoro Franciscani Coimbra, Flávia Regina Miranda, Camila Clozato Lara, Marco Antônio Alves Schetino and Fabrício Rodrigues dos Santos: Phylogeographic history of South American populations of the silky anteater Cyclopes didactylus (Pilosa: Cyclopedidae). Genetics and Molecular Biology 40 (1), 2017, pp. 40-49 doi: 10.1590 / 1678-4685-GMB-2016-0040
  13. ^ Carl von Linné: Systema naturae. 10th edition, 1758, Volume 1, p. 35 ( [1] )
  14. ^ Albert Seba: Locupletissimi rerum naturalium thesauri accurata descriptio, et iconibus artificiosissimis expressio, per universam physices historiam. Amsterdam, 1734, plate 37 and p. 60 ( [2] )
  15. ↑ Oldfield Thomas: The mammals of the tenth edition of Linnaeus; an attempt to fix the types of the genera and the exact bases and localities of the species. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1911, pp. 120-158
  16. ↑ Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon: Histoire naturelle, générale et partiuculière, avec la description du Cabinet du roy. Tome Dixième. Paris, 1763, pp. 165–180 as well as plates 30, 32 8nd 33 ( [3] )
  17. ^ Thomas Pennant: This history of quadrupeds. London, 1781, pp. 1–581 (pp. 507–511) ( [4] )
  18. ^ Robert Kerr: The animal kingdom or zoological system, of the celebrated Sir Charles Linnaeus. class I. Mammalia. London, 1792, pp. 1–644 (pp. 104–105) ( [5] )
  19. ↑ Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest: Mammalogie ou description des especes de mammiferes. Second partie, contenant les ordres de rongeurs, desedentes, des pachydermes, des ruminans et de cetacés. Paris, 1822, pp. 278–555 (p. 375) ( [6] )
  20. ↑ René Primevère Lesson: Manuel de mammalogie, ou histoire naturelle des mammiferes. Paris, 1827, pp. 1–442 (p. 315) ( [7] )
  21. ↑ Oldfield Thomas: Descriptions of new rodents from western South America. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 7 (6), 1900, pp. 294-302 ( [8] )
  22. ↑ Flávia Miranda and DA Meritt Jr .: Cyclopes didactylus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2014. e.T6019A47440020 ( [9] ), last accessed on January 6, 2018
  23. ↑ Flávia Miranda and Mariella Superina: Cyclopes didactylus (Northeastern Brazil subpopulation). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2014. e.T173393A47444393 ( [10] ), last accessed January 6, 2018
  24. ↑ François Catzeflis and Benoit de Thoisy: Xenarthrans in French Guiana: a letter overview of Their distribution and conservation status. Edentata 13, 2012, pp. 29-37