AVA ICMBio-MMA

• Coordenação de Pesquisas em Ecologia, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), C.P. 478, 69011-970, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
• Coleções Zoológicas, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
• 
  Daniel P. Munari
  
• Fábio Röhe
• André L. Ravetta 
• Paulo Rubim 
• Izeni P. Farias   
• Maria N.F. da Silva  

• Departamento de Zoologia, Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Belém, Pará, Brazil
• Other articles by this author:
• De Gruyter OnlineGoogle Scholar

Keywords: Amazonia; Carnivora; geographic distribution; mammalian inventories; neotropical mammals; Procyonidae.

There is still much disparity in basic information about global biodiversity (Whittaker et al. 2005), especially in the Amazon, where many taxa are known from only a few specimens or localities (Nelson et al. 1990, Kress et al. 1998). Even for the better-studied vertebrate taxa such as mammals (Gaston and May 1992), lack of natural history data for some Amazonian species is common and problematic (see IUCN Red List at www.iucnredlist.org). Field studies routinely contribute startling discoveries, as evidenced by recent descriptions of large mammals, including several new primate taxa (van Roosmalen et al. 2002, Wallace et al. 2006, Boubli et al. 2008, Ro¨he et al. 2009), a possible new peccary species (van Roosmalen et al. 2007, Gongora 2008) and two new porcupines (Voss and da Silva 2001). In addition to the notorious logistical problems and lack of funding (Balmford and Whitten 2003), detection and identification difficulties have contributed to the mystery surrounding certain mammalian groups.

Here, we present new field records from the Brazilian Amazon of Allen’s Olingo (Bassaricyon alleni; Carnivora: Procyonidae), including the first Brazilian specimens. There is only one prior record of this species in Brazil (Calouro 1999; Table 1) and virtually no available information about its biology from anywhere in its known range (Reid and Helgen 2008a). Our records represent a range extension of more than 1000 km and offer insights on field identification, taxonomy, natural history, and conservation threats. The olingos (Bassaricyon spp.) are a little-known group of small Neotropical carnivores (Glatston 1994, Kays 2000, Reid and Helgen 2008a,b), whose distributional limits and species-level identification are particularly problematic in Brazil (Oliveira 2009). They are described as solitary, arboreal and nocturnal, occurring patchily in multistrata neotropical evergreen forests (Glatston 1994), and are thought to feed primarily on fruits and nectar (Kays 2000). They can be overlooked easily or mistaken for the similar kinkajou (Potos flavus Schreber 1774) or even for night-monkeys (Aotus spp.) (Emmons 1984, Prange and Prange 2009). The distribution of olingos in South America is treated as sharply disjunct, with vast areas separating known occurrences (IUCN 2009, Prange and Prange 2009). It has been suggested that this irregular distribution is the result of possible competition with the larger, more widespread kinkajou, limiting the olingo to the areas of highest productivity, where the two species could occur together (Glatston 1994). However, as our results suggest, it is also possible that olingos occur more frequently than previously recognized, but tend to be overlooked owing to difficulties with detection and identification.