Description

Diagnosis. Bassaricyon alleni is a medium-sized olingo, smaller than Bassaricyon gabbii of Mesoamerica, and larger than Bassaricyon neblina of the Andes. It requires closest comparison with the closely-related and allopatrically-distributed taxon Bassaricyon medius, from which it differs especially in having (externally) more strikingly black-tipped dorsal pelage (giving the pelage a slightly darker appearance in Bassaricyon alleni), (cranially) in its proportionally wider and (on average) shorter rostrum, and in having more inflated auditory bullae (Table 3), and (dentally) in its generally larger p 4 (Table 4). Bassaricyon alleni is considerably larger than Bassaricyon medius medius (of South America west 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 is very similar in size to Bassaricyon medius orinomus (of eastern Panama). 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 alleni, Bassaricyon medius), separated by the Andes, is 6 - 7 % (Table 2).

Common Names

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Carnivora

Family: Procyonidae

Genus: Bassaricyon

Species: Bassaricyon alleni Thomas, 1880