Description

Diagnosis. Bassaricyon neblina can be easily identified on the basis of both external and craniodental characteristics (Figures 3 - 7, Tables 3 - 5). It differs from other Bassaricyon in its smaller body and cranial size; longer, denser, and more richly coloured dorsal pelage (black-tipped, tan to strikingly orange- to reddish-brown); indistinctly banded, bushier, and proportionally shorter tail (at least compared to the lowland olingos, Bassaricyon alleni and Bassaricyon medius, Table 5); (externally) more rounded face with a blunter, less tapering muzzle; smaller and more heavily furred external ears, and considerably reduced auditory bullae, with a markedly smaller external auditory meatus; broadened and more elongate postdental palate (' palatal shelf'), bearing more prominent lateral ' flanges' (sometimes developed to the point where it nearly closes off the " palatal notch " sensu Asher 2007); and proportionally much larger first molars (M 1 and m 1), achieved especially by the development of more massive and bulbous principal molar cusps (protocone, paracone, metacone, hypocone) in M 1, and for m 1 by the widening of the talonid with the expansion in particular of the entoconid and hypoconid. The m 1 paraconid is reduced relative to other Bassaricyon. Where Bassaricyon medius and Bassaricyon neblina occur in regional sympatry on the western slopes of the Andes, Bassaricyon neblina is smaller and more richly rufous and / or blackish in coloration, and is distinguished by all of the characteristics noted above. Externally, Bassaricyon neblina can only be confused with the highest elevation populations of Bassaricyon alleni, from forests above 1000 m on the eastern slopes of the Andes (specimens from Pozuzo and Chanchamayo in Peru), which, like Bassaricyon neblina, also have long, black-tipped dorsal pelage (though not so strongly rufous as in Bassaricyon neblina), ears that are especially furry (though not so small as in Bassaricyon neblina), and tails averaging slightly shorter than in lowland populations of Bassaricyon alleni (but not as short as in Bassaricyon neblina). The craniodental characteristics of Bassaricyon neblina (especially of the palate, bullae, and molars) are unmistakable.

Common Names

No common names available.

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Carnivora

Family: Procyonidae

Genus: Bassaricyon

Species: Bassaricyon neblina Helgen, Pinto, Kays, Helgen, Tsuchiya, Quinn, Wilson & Maldonado, 2013