Central American tapeti

Central American tapeti
Puerto Viejo, Sarapiquí, Costa Rica
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1) [1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Lagomorpha
Family:	Leporidae
Genus:	Sylvilagus
Species:	S. gabbi
Binomial name
Sylvilagus gabbi (J.A. Allen 1877)
Synonyms
Sylvilagus brasiliensis gabbi J.A. Allen (1877)

The Central American tapeti (Sylvilagus gabbi) or Gabb's cottontail is a species of cottontail rabbit native to southern Mexico and much of Central America. It was previously considered a subspecies of the common tapeti (Sylvilagus brasiliensis) but analysis in 2017 confirmed that it is sufficiently distinct in both appearance and genetics to be considered a species in its own right. ^[2] It is closely related to the northern tapeti, which some authors describe as a subspecies of S. gabbi. The name Gabbi's cottontail comes from American paleontologist William More Gabb.

Taxonomy

There are six subspecies of the Central American tapeti. The most widespread are S. g. gabbi, the nominate subspecies, which is widespread throughout eastern Costa Rica, eastern Nicaragua, Honduras, and eastern Panama, and S. g. truei, found in southern Belize, Guatemala, and southeastern Mexico. ^[3] The rest of the Central American tapeti subspecies are less common: ^[3]

• S. g. consobrinus, of unknown relation, but speculated to belong to S. g. gabbi or S. g. messorius
• S. g. messorius, found at altitudes up to 550 metres (1,800 ft), lives in the Darién Gap and possibly Colombia
• S. g. tumacus, similar to northern-range nominate subspecies
• S. g. incitatus, known only from Isla del Rey, Panama

Range and distribution

The Central American Tapeti is distributed in Central America from eastern to southeastern Mexico to Panama. Thereby the range of the northern subspecies and nominate form Sylvilagus gabbi gabbi extends from Mexico (Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, Veracruz, Querétaro, Hidalgo, Puebla, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Tabasco and Campeche) to Guatemala and Belize while the subspecies Sylvilagus gabbi truei occurs from Guatemala via Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica to Panama. The distribution of Sylvilagus gabbi truei is limited by the fact that the subspecies is not known to occur in Central America. ^[4]

References

1. Ruedas, Luis A.; Smith, Andrew T. (2019). "Gabb's Cottontail". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2019 e.T87491157A87491160. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-1.RLTS.T87491157A87491160.en . Retrieved 5 May 2023.
2. Ruedas; French; Silva; Platt II; Salazar-Bravo; Mora; Thompson (2017). "A prolegomenon to the systematics of South American cottontail rabbits (Mammalia, Lagomorpha, Leporidae: Sylvilagus): designation of a neotype for S. brasiliensis (Linnaeus, 1758), and restoration of S. andinus (Thomas, 1897) and S. tapetillus Thomas, 1913". University of Michigan . 205. ISSN   0076-8405.
3. Ruedas, Luis A. (2018). "Sylvilagus gabbi (J. Allen, 1877) Gabb's cottontail". In Smith, Andrew T.; Johnston, Charlotte H.; Alves, Paulo C.; Hackländer, Klaus (eds.). Lagomorphs: Pikas, Rabbits, and Hares of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 140–141. doi:10.1353/book.57193. ISBN   978-1-4214-2341-8. LCCN   2017004268.
4. Handbook of the mammals of the world. Don E. Wilson, Russell A. Mittermeier, Paolo Cavallini. Barcelona. 2009–2019. ISBN   978-84-96553-49-1. OCLC   304148757.