Lontra

Lontra
North American river otters (Lontra canadensis)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Mustelidae
Subfamily:	Lutrinae
Genus:	Lontra Gray, 1843
Type species
Lutra canadensis Gray, 1843 [1]
Species
L. canadensis L. felina L. longicaudis L. provocax † L. weiri
Lontra range

Lontra is a genus of otters from the Americas. ^[1]

Species

These species were previously included in the genus Lutra , together with the Eurasian otter, but they have now been moved to a separate genus. The genus comprises four living and one known fossil species:

Extant species

Genus Lontra – Gray, 1843 – four species

Common name	Scientific name and subspecies	Range	Size and ecology	IUCN status and estimated population
North American river otter	Lontra canadensis (Schreber, 1777) Seven subspecies L. c. canadensis (Schreber, 1777) L. c. kodiacensis (Goldman, 1935) L. c. lataxina (Cuvier, 1823) L. c. mira (Goldman, 1935) L. c. pacifica (J. A. Allen, 1898) L. c. periclyzomae (Elliot, 1905) L. c. sonora (Rhoads, 1898)	North America	Size: Habitat: Diet:	LC
Southern river otter	Lontra provocax (Thomas, 1908)	Chile and Argentina	Size: Habitat: Diet:	EN
Neotropical otter	Lontra longicaudis (Olfers, 1818) Four subspecies L. l. enudris L. l. incarum L. l. longicaudis L. l. raferrous	South America and the Caribbean island of Trinidad	Size: Habitat: Diet:	NT
Northern neotropical otter [2] [3]	Lontra annectens (Forsyth Major, 1897) Six subspecies L. a. annectens L. a. colombiana	Central America, South America	Size: Habitat: Diet:	NE
Marine otter	Lontra felina (Molina, 1782)	South America	Size: Habitat: Diet:	EN

Fossil Lontra remains from the Miocene of Florida (FLMNH). The oldest Lontra fossils known.

Extinct species

Scientific name	Common name	Distribution
† Lontra weiri	Weir's otter	Pliocene North America [4]

References

1. Wozencraft, W. C. (2005). "Order Carnivora". In Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN   978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC   62265494.
2. de Ferren, V.; Vieira Figueiró, H.; et al. (June 2024). "Genome-wide data support recognition of an additional species of Neotropical river otter (Mammalia, Mustelidae, Lutrinae)". Journal of Mammalogy. 105 (3): 534–542. doi:10.1093/jmammal/gyae009.
3. "Lontra annectens". Mammal Diversity Database. American Society of Mammalogy. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
4. Prassack, K.A. (July 2016). "Lontra weiri, sp. nov., a Pliocene river otter (Mammalia, Carnivora, Mustelidae, Lutrinae) from the Hagerman Fossil Beds (Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument), Idaho, USA". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 36 (4) e1149075. Bibcode:2016JVPal..36E9075P. doi:10.1080/02724634.2016.1149075. S2CID   87404097.