Rio Negro pygmy anteater

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Rio Negro pygmy anteater
Systematics
Superordinate : Sub-articulated animals (Xenarthra)
Order : Tooth arms (pilosa)
Subordination : Anteaters (Vermilingua)
Family : Cyclopedidae
Genre : Pygmy Anteaters ( Cyclopes )
Type : Rio Negro pygmy anteater
Scientific name
Cyclopes ida
Thomas , 1900

The Rio Negro pygmy anteater ( Cyclopes ida ) is a species of mammal belonging to the genus of pygmy anteaters , which is found mainly in northwestern South America, where it inhabits the tropical rainforests of the western Amazon basin . There the animals live tree-dwelling as well as nocturnal and feed on ants . Outwardly they stand out through a gray fur dress. Back and abdominal stripes are not or only blurred. The shape was first described in 1900. For a long time it was considered a subspecies of the common pygmy anteater . It has been recognized as an independent species since 2017.

description

Habitus

The Rio Negro dwarf anteater is a representative of the dwarf anteater. The type specimen of the species has a head-trunk length of 18.0 and a tail length of 19.8 cm. As with all dwarf anteaters, the tail exceeds the rest of the body in length and acts as a grasping organ . The fur on the back, tail and legs is predominantly gray in color. The belly has a yellowish hue. Noticeable back and abdominal stripes along the body center line are usually not present. When they occur, they are only weakly developed and merge with the rest of the coat color. In this characteristic, the Rio Negro pygmy anteater is more or less similar to the reddish dwarf anteater ( Cyclopes rufus ) from southwestern Brazil , but the latter is colored differently. As with most anteaters, the individual hairs are not equipped with a medullary canal. According to the related species, the hands have two rays and the feet four rays, each with strong claws.

Skull features

The skull is 49.0 mm long and 23.5 mm wide at the cranium, and the lower jaw is 33.0 mm long. The forehead line is characteristically arched, while the base of the skull is drawn in. A noticeable indentation can be seen in the area of ​​contact between the nasal and frontal bones . The two bone sutures of the nasal bone and the upper jaw run almost parallel to each other, the seam between the upper jaw and frontal bone is wide. The suture between the frontal and parietal bones again has a horseshoe-like shape. The external auditory canal opens laterally and the wing bone partially covers the tympanic membrane .

distribution

The Rio Negro pygmy anteater is endemic to South America . The main distribution area includes the western Amazon basin in northern Brazil , eastern Ecuador and north-eastern Peru . The northern border is largely formed by the Rio Uaupés and the Rio Negro . However, specimens have also been observed in Colombia , so that the occurrence may well extend further north. In the west the Rio Juruá , in the east possibly the Amazon, marks the southern border of the inhabited area. A single piece of evidence also comes from the foot of the Andes , which is probably the western border. Tropical rainforests serve as habitat .

Way of life

All representatives of the dwarf anteaters live solitary and are nocturnal as well as arboreal . In their diet, they are adapted to insects , with the main prey being tree-dwelling ants . According to analyzes of four faecal samples, animals from the area of ​​the mouth of the Rio Negro into the Amazon fed on representatives of the genus Crematogaster to over 72% and from those of Zacryptocerus to over 11% . Pseudomyrmex , Camponotus , Solenopsis and Pheidole were also detected . A total of 79 morpho species from 9 genera were consumed. A few remains of beetles were also found. The gestation period is assumed to be 120 to 150 days.

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

The Rio Negro dwarf anteater is a species from the genus of dwarf anteaters ( Cyclopes ). According to molecular genetic studies from 2017, the genus consists of a total of seven species. It in turn forms the only recent member of the thus monotypical family of Cyclopedidae within the suborder of the anteaters (Vermilingua). The family is the sister taxon of the Myrmecophagidae with the other anteaters of the genera Myrmecophaga and Tamandua . The pygmy anteaters are the smallest representatives of the anteaters and have fully adapted to a tree life. Within the genus, Cyclopes ida is opposed to a clade made up of the common pygmy anteater ( Cyclopes didactylus ), the Central America pygmy anteater ( Cyclopes dorsalis ) and the Xingu pygmy anteater ( Cyclopes xinguensis ). The entire group separated from the other dwarf anteaters during the Middle Miocene around 10.3 million years ago. According to this, the ancestors of Cyclopes ida went their own evolutionary path since the transition from the Miocene to the Pliocene about 5.8 million years ago. The early separation of the pygmy anteaters from the western Amazon from those of the eastern and northern regions had also been noted in previous genetic studies.

The first scientific description comes from Oldfield Thomas from 1900. He identified its new form as a subspecies of the common pygmy anteater. For the description Thomas had five specimens available, four of which came from Sarayacu on the upper reaches of the Río Pastaza in eastern Ecuador , which is to be regarded as a type locality of the species. The holotype was collected by Clarence Buckley and represents a female animal. The position as a subspecies of Cyclopes didactylus was rarely doubted in the following years. However, the molecular genetic and morphological studies from 2017 recognize them as a separate species. In 1942 named Einar Lönnberg with Cyclopes didactylus codajazensis a similar shape from the western Amazon region, more precisely from the region along the Rio Solimoes-section of the Amazon. According to Lönnberg, however, this had a clear stripe on the back, which, according to recent studies, is much less obvious. The shape was seen by Ángel Cabrera in 1958 as a synonym for Cyclopes didactylus ida , but by Alfred L. Gardner in 2008 as being identical to Cyclopes didactylus catellus . In 1942 Lönnberg also set up the new species Cyclopes juruanus , which is based on three individuals from an area along the Rio Juruá . Their fur is a bit more brownish, but Gardner identified them in 2008 with Cyclopes didactylus ida . The two forms are now classified as belonging to Cyclopes ida after the investigations from 2017 .

Threat and protection

The Rio Negro pygmy anteater is currently not recorded by the IUCN . The environmental protection organization indicates the status of the total population of the dwarf anteaters as “not endangered” ( least concern ). Due to the deforestation of the tropical rainforests , local individual populations can be at greater risk.

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 (p. 101) ISBN 978-84-16728-08-4

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Oldfield Thomas: Descriptions of new rodents from western South America. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 6, 1999, pp. 294-302 ( [1] )
  2. ↑ a b c Virginia Hayssen, Flávia Miranda and Bret Pasch: Cyclopes didactylus (Pilosa: Cyclopedidae). Mammalian Species 44 (1), 2012, pp. 51-58
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g 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
  4. ↑ 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 (p. 101) ISBN 978-84-16728-08-4
  5. ^ Robin C. Best and Ana Y. Harada: Food Habits of the Silky Anteater (Cyclopes didactylus) in the Central Amazon. Journal of Mammalogy 66 (4), 1985, pp. 780-781
  6. ↑ a b c d 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
  7. 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
  8. ↑ Ingo Krumbiegel: The mammals of the South America expeditions Prof. Dr. War. 2. Anteaters. Zoologischer Anzeiger 131, 1940, pp. 161-188
  9. ^ Einar Lönnberg: Notes on Xenarthra from Brazil and Bolivia. Arkiv för Zoologi 34, 1942, pp. 1-58
  10. ↑ Flávia Miranda and DA Meritt Jr .: Cyclopes didactylus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2014. e.T6019A47440020 ( [2] ), last accessed on January 6, 2018