Bassariscus

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Bassariscus
Bassariscus.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Procyonidae
Subfamily: Procyoninae
Tribe: Bassariscini
Genus: Bassariscus
Coues, 1887
Type species
Bassaris astuta [1]
Species

Bassariscus astutus
Bassariscus casei
Bassariscus sonoitensis
Bassariscus sumichrasti

Contents

Bassariscus is a genus in the family Procyonidae. There are two extant species in the genus: the ringtail or ring-tailed cat (B. astutus) and the cacomistle (B. sumichrasti). Genetic studies have indicated that the closest relatives of Bassariscus are raccoons, [2] [3] [4] from which they diverged about 10 million years ago in the Tortonian Age of the Miocene. [4] The two lineages of Bassariscus are thought to have separated after only another two million years, [2] making it the extant procyonid genus with the earliest diversification. Later diversification in the genus in the Pliocene and Pleistocene saw the emergence of two extinct species, Bassariscus casei and Bassariscus sonoitensis , respectively. Due to the more digitigrade stance of their legs compared to the plantigrade stance of other members of Procyonidae, some taxonomies place the genus as a separate family, Bassaricidae.. [5] The name is a Greek word for fox ("bassaris") with a Latinized diminutive ending ("-iscus"). [6] The genus was named by Elliott Coues in 1887, having previously been described by Lichtenstein in 1830 under the name Bassaris. Coues proposed the word "bassarisk" as the English term for animals in this genus. [7] Its habitat includes semi-arid areas in the southwestern United States, [8] the whole of Mexico, as well as moist tropical forests in Central America.

Species

ImageScientific nameCommon nameDistribution
Squaw-ringtail-28073.jpg Bassariscus astutus Ringtail Southern United States from southern Oregon and California throughout the southwestern states to Texas. In Mexico it ranges from the northern desert state of Baja California to Oaxaca. Its distribution overlaps that of B. sumichrasti in the Mexican states of Guerrero, Oaxaca and Veracruz. [9]
Bassariscus casei [10] Case's ringtail [11] An extinct species with fossils first found in the Upper Pliocene strata of the Rexroad formation in Kansas [12] and later in the Late Blancan strata in California. [11]
Bassariscus sonoitensis [10] An extinct species with only three known locations in Papago Springs Cave, Santa Cruz County, Arizona (1942), San Josecito Cave, Nuevo León, Mexico (1958), and U-Bar Cave, Hidalgo County, New Mexico (1987), that lived from the late Pleistocene and went extinct before the full-glacial period of the late Wisconsinian. [13]
Bassariscus sumichrasti geo.jpg Bassariscus sumichrasti Cacomistle Central America, from south central Mexico to Panama.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carnivora</span> Order of mammals

Carnivora is an order of placental mammals that have specialized in primarily eating flesh, whose members are formally referred to as carnivorans. The order Carnivora is the fifth largest order of mammals, comprising at least 279 species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coati</span> Variety of mammal

Coatis, also known as coatimundis, are members of the family Procyonidae in the genera Nasua and Nasuella. They are diurnal mammals native to South America, Central America, Mexico, and the southwestern United States. The name "coatimundi" comes from the Tupian languages of Brazil, where it means "lone coati". Locally in Belize, the coati is known as "quash".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ringtail</span> Species of mammal

The ringtail is a mammal of the raccoon family native to arid regions of North America. It is widely distributed and well adapted to disturbed areas. It has been legally trapped for its fur. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. The species is known by variety of different names, such as ring-tailed cat, miner's cat,civet cat, and cacomistle, though the last of these can refer to B. sumichrasti.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Procyonidae</span> Family of mammals

Procyonidae is a New World family of the order Carnivora. It comprises the raccoons, ringtails, cacomistles, coatis, kinkajous, olingos, and olinguitos. Procyonids inhabit a wide range of environments and are generally omnivorous.

<i>Procyon</i> (genus) Genus of carnivores

Procyon is a genus of nocturnal mammals comprising three species commonly known as raccoons in the family Procyonidae. The most familiar species, the common raccoon, is often known simply as "the" raccoon, as the two other raccoon species in the genus are native only to the tropics and less well known. Genetic studies have shown that the closest relatives of raccoons are the ring-tailed cats and cacomistles of genus Bassariscus, from which they diverged about 10 million years ago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kinkajou</span> South American honeyeater (Potos flavus)

The kinkajou is a tropical rainforest mammal of the family Procyonidae related to olingos, coatis, raccoons, and the ringtail and cacomistle. It is the only member of the genus Potos and is also known as the "honey bear". Kinkajous are arboreal, a lifestyle they evolved independently; they are not closely related to any other tree-dwelling mammal group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Potto</span> Arboreal primate of west-central Africa

The pottos are three species of strepsirrhine primate in the genus Perodicticus of the family Lorisidae. In some English-speaking parts of Africa, they are called "softly-softlys".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cacomistle</span> Species of carnivore

The cacomistle, also spelled cacomixtle, is a nocturnal, arboreal and omnivorous member of the carnivoran family Procyonidae. Its preferred habitats are wet, tropical, evergreen woodlands and mountain forests, though seasonally it will venture into drier deciduous forests.

<i>Nasua</i> Genus of carnivores

Nasua is a genus of coatis of the family Procyonidae. Two additional species of coatis, commonly known as mountain coatis, are placed in the genus Nasuella.

<i>Nasuella</i> Genus of carnivores

Mountain coatis are two species of procyonid mammals from the genus Nasuella. Unlike the larger coatis from the genus Nasua, mountain coatis only weigh 1.0–1.5 kilograms (2.2–3.3 lb) and are endemic to the north Andean highlands in South America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caniformia</span> Suborder of mammals

Caniformia is a suborder within the order Carnivora consisting of "dog-like" carnivorans. They include dogs, bears, raccoons, and mustelids. The Pinnipedia are also assigned to this group. The center of diversification for the Caniformia is North America and northern Eurasia. Caniformia stands in contrast to the other suborder of Carnivora, the Feliformia, the center of diversification of which was in Africa and southern Asia.

<i>Bassaricyon</i> Genus of carnivores

The genus Bassaricyon consists of small Neotropical procyonids, popularly known as olingos, cousins of the raccoon. They are native to the rainforests of Central and South America from Nicaragua to Peru. They are arboreal and nocturnal, and live at elevations from sea level to 2,750 m. Olingos closely resemble another procyonid, the kinkajou, in morphology and habits, though they lack prehensile tails and extrudable tongues, have more extended muzzles, and possess anal scent glands. However, the two genera are not sisters. They also resemble galagos and certain lemurs.

<i>Leopardus</i> Genus of felines native to the Americas

Leopardus is a genus comprising eight species of small cats native to the Americas. This genus is considered the oldest branch of a genetic lineage of small cats in the Americas whose common ancestor crossed the Bering land bridge from Asia to North America in the late Miocene.

<i>Nasuella olivacea</i> Species of carnivore

The western mountain coati or western dwarf coati is a small procyonid, found in cloud forest and páramo at altitudes of 1,300–4,250 metres (4,270–13,940 ft) in the Andes of Colombia and Ecuador. A population discovered in the Apurímac–Cuzco region of southern Peru has tentatively been identified as the western mountain coati, but may represent an undescribed taxon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South American coati</span> Species of carnivore

The South American coati, also known as the ring-tailed coati, is a coati species and a member of the raccoon family (Procyonidae), found in the tropical and subtropical parts of South America. An adult generally weighs from 2–7.2 kg (4.4–15.9 lb) and is 85–113 cm (33–44 in) long, with half of that being its tail. Its color is highly variable and the rings on the tail may be only somewhat visible, but its most distinguishing characteristic is that it lacks the largely white snout of its northern relative, the white-nosed coati.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cozumel raccoon</span> Species of critically endangered raccoon

The Cozumel raccoon is a critically endangered species of island raccoon endemic on Cozumel Island off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. It is also called the pygmy raccoon, dwarf raccoon, Cozumel Island raccoon, and Cozumel raccoon bear.

Ringtail, ring tail, or ring-tail may refer to:

<i>Nasuella meridensis</i> Species of carnivore

The eastern mountain coati or eastern dwarf coati is a small procyonid found in cloud forest and páramo at elevations of 2,000–4,000 m (6,600–13,100 ft) in the Andes of western Venezuela. Until 2009, it was included as a subspecies of the western mountain coati, but the eastern mountain coati is overall smaller, somewhat shorter-tailed on average, has markedly smaller teeth, a paler olive-brown pelage, and usually a dark mid-dorsal stripe on the back versus more rufescent or blackish, and usually without a dark mid-dorsal stripe in the western mountain coati. When the two were combined, they were classified as Data Deficient on the IUCN Red List but following the split the eastern mountain coati is considered endangered. A genetic analysis revealed that it should be regarded as a synonym of N. olivacea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olinguito</span> Genus of carnivores

The olinguito is a mammal of the raccoon family Procyonidae that lives in montane forests in the Andes of western Colombia and Ecuador. It was classified as belonging to a new species in 2013. The specific name neblina is Spanish for fog or mist, referring to the cloud forest habitat of the olinguito.

References

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  2. 1 2 K.-P. Koepfli; M. E. Gompper; E. Eizirik; C.-C. Ho; L. Linden; J. E. Maldonado; R. K. Wayne (2007). "Phylogeny of the Procyonidae (Mammalia: Carvnivora): Molecules, morphology and the Great American Interchange". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 43 (3): 1076–1095. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.495.2618 . doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2006.10.003. PMID   17174109.
  3. Eizirik, E.; Murphy, W. J.; Koepfli, K.-P.; Johnson, W. E.; Dragoo, J. W.; Wayne, R. K.; O’Brien, S. J. (2010-02-04). "Pattern and timing of diversification of the mammalian order Carnivora inferred from multiple nuclear gene sequences". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 56 (1): 49–63. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2010.01.033. PMC   7034395 . PMID   20138220.
  4. 1 2 Helgen, K. M.; Pinto, M.; Kays, R.; Helgen, L.; Tsuchiya, M.; Quinn, A.; Wilson, D.; Maldonado, J. (2013-08-15). "Taxonomic revision of the olingos (Bassaricyon), with description of a new species, the Olinguito". ZooKeys (324): 1–83. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.324.5827 . PMC   3760134 . PMID   24003317.
  5. "Ringtailed Cat - Bassariscus astutus - DesertUSA". www.desertusa.com. Retrieved 2021-04-20.
  6. "Definition of BASSARISCUS". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  7. Coues, E. (1887). "Bassariscus, a new generic name in mammalogy". Science. 9 (225): 516. doi:10.1126/science.ns-9.225.516. PMID   17748409.
  8. "Ringtail Cat". Archived from the original on 2010-08-10. Retrieved 2010-12-01.
  9. Reid, F.; Schipper, J.; Timm, R. (2016). "Bassariscus astutus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2016: e.T41680A45215881. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T41680A45215881.en . Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  10. 1 2 "Volume Issue 327 | Mammalian Species | Oxford Academic". 2017-05-25. Archived from the original on 2017-05-25. Retrieved 2021-04-20.
  11. 1 2 "Procyonidae - Raccoons and Ringtails | University of Texas El Paso".
  12. Hibbard, C. W. (August 1952). "A new Bassariscus from the Upper Pliocene of Kansas|Journal of Mammalogy". 33 (3): 379–381. doi:10.2307/1375775. JSTOR   1375775.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  13. Harris, A. H. (October 1990). "Taxonomic Status of the Pleistocene Ringtail Bassariscus sonoitensis (Carnivora)|The Southwestern Naturalist". 35 (3): 343–346. doi:10.2307/3671953. JSTOR   3671953.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)