Descripción Nuevo Pecarí

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Article reprinted from: van Roosmalen MGM, Frenz L, van Hooft P, de Iongh HH and Leirs H. 2007. A new species of living peccary (Mammalia: Tayassuidae) from the Brazilian Amazon. Bonner Zoologische Beiträge 55: 105-112.

A new species of living peccary (Mammalia: Tayassuidae) from the Brazilian Amazon.
van Roosmalen MGM1, Frenz L2, van Hooft P3, de Iongh HH4 andLeirs H5.
1

Amazon Association for the Preservation of High-Biodiverse Areas (AAPA), Manaus-AM, Brazil. Email: garciaroosmalen@hotmail.com 2 Hamburg, Germany 3 Wageningen University and Research Centre, Wageningen, The Netherlands 4 Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands 5 University of Antwerp, Antwerpen, Belgium Abstract Here we report on the existence of a new species of even-toed ungulatein the Brazilian Amazon, which we name Pecari maximus, the giant peccary. It represents the largest of living peccary species. One complete mitochondrial D-loop and two nuclear SINE PRE-1 DNA sequences of giant peccary compared with that of the sympatric and morphologically most similar collared peccary (Pecari tajacu) support full species status. The divergence time is estimated at 1.0–1.2million years before present. In contrast to other peccaries, which are gregarious and range semi-nomadically in large home ranges, giant peccaries appear to live in family groups containing only a pair of adults, with or without 1–2 offspring. In view of recent developments in the interfluves where it lives and due to its limited distribution, we consider the giant peccary endangered. Keywords: Newspecies, Artiodactyla, Tayassuidae, Pecari maximus, giant peccary, Brazilian Amazon. Introduction Until recently only three extant species in the New World Artiodactyla family Tayassuidae (peccaries) were known to science, belonging to three genera (Grubb, 2005): the collared peccary Pecari tajacu (Linnaeus 1758), the whitelipped peccary Tayassu pecari (Link 1795), and the Chacoan peccary Catagonuswagneri (Rusconi 1930). A living population of the latter which was thought to have gone extinct was discovered in 1974 in the Chaco region on the borders of Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina (Wetzel et al., 1975). During transect surveys of megafauna and fruits conducted in January 2000 in the Rio Aripuanã basin, the first author saw a group of three peccaries, not belonging to any of the knownspecies. Since then, the first author has had several encounters with such peccaries and collected some basic ecological and behavioural data. In March 2003, the first two authors succeeded in filming a
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group of four such peccaries and collecting zoological material from game brought into the village of Arauazinho. Description of Species Class Mammalia; OrderArtiodactyla; Family Tayassuidae Palmer, 1897; Genus Pecari Reichenbach, 1835 Pecari maximus sp. nov. (Figs. 1–3) Material. Five skins in the possession of hunters along the lower Rio Aripuanã and a complete skull without exact locality data obtained from them (MR316); an incomplete skull with skin (MR315) from an adult specimen killed in December 2003 along the Rio Arauazinho; a complete skull(INPA4272) from an adult male killed by locals on March 12, 2003, along the left bank of the Rio Aripuanã near the settlement of Arauazinho. Several skulls and mandible parts of all three peccary species occurring in the area were examined as found in the kitchen middens of some local communities. Diagnosis and discussion. A species of Pecari differing from the only other known species in this genus,Pecari tajacu, in being much larger but less robust, with much longer legs and a proportionally small head only slightly bigger than that of Pecari tajacu. Most of the body thinly bristle-haired, overall colour brown mixed with dirty white, a black mid-dorsal mane running from between the ears as far as the rudimentary tail. Ears small and whitish at distal surface. Nasal disc pinkish, relatively...