Description

Diagnosis. Bassaricyon medius is a medium-sized olingo, smaller (on average) than Bassaricyon gabbii of Mesoamerica and larger than Bassaricyon neblina of the Andes. It requires closest comparison with the closely-related, allopatrically-distributed taxon Bassaricyon alleni, from which it differs especially in having (externally) less strikingly black-tipped dorsal pelage (which gives the pelage a slightly darker appearance in Bassaricyon alleni), (cranially) in its proportionally narrower and (on average) longer rostrum, and in having less inflated auditory bullae (Table 3), and (dentally) in its generally smaller p 4 (Table 4). Bassaricyon medius medius is considerably smaller than Bassaricyon alleni (of South America east of the Andes), such that there is a clear body-size contrast between the two lowland olingo taxa of South America (Bassaricyon alleni east of Andes vs. B. medius medius west of Andes), but Bassaricyon medius orinomus (of eastern Panama and northwestern Colombia) is very similar in size to Bassaricyon alleni. Bassaricyon medius orinomus often has a reddish tail that contrasts somewhat with the less rufous head and body; Bassaricyon alleni tends to be more uniformly colored head to tail. In life, Bassaricyon alleni usually has a darkly pigmented nose, whereas in Bassaricyon medius the nose is often pink (Ivo Poglayen-Neuwall to C. O. Handley Jr., in litt., 9 February 1973; Figures 21 - 22). Sequence divergence in cytochrome b in these sister species (Bassaricyon medius, Bassaricyon alleni), separated by the Andes, is 6 - 7 % (Table 2).

Common Names

No common names available.

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Carnivora

Family: Procyonidae

Genus: Bassaricyon

Species: Bassaricyon medius Thomas, 1909