Updating records of a threatened felid species of the Argentinian Patagonia: the Guigna Leopardus guigna (Molina, 1782) (Mammalia: Carnivora: Felidae) in Los Alerces National Park

MARÍA DE LAS MERCEDES GUERISOLI; SCHIAFFINI, MAURO IGNACIO; GABRIEL BAUER

Journal of Threatened Taxa

Wild Cat Network, Bad Marienberg

Año: 2020 vol. 12 p. 17252 - 17257

0974-7893

The Guigna Leopardus guigna is an endemic felid of theValdivian Temperate Forests in Argentina and Chile, and of the ChileanMatorral ecoregion. It is a small-sized felid (1.6?2.5 kg), one of theleast known wild felids, and categorized as Vulnerable to extinction.Here, we present two new reliable records in Los Alerces NationalPark, Chubut Province, Argentina, the southernmost protectedarea, in which the species is present. The first record is an individualfound dead on 6 June 2019 on the bank of Frey River near AmutuiQuimei Lake. The second record was an individual casually capturedin an American Mink Neovison vison cage on 7 December 2019 nearMenéndez Lake. Both records were in forested Nothofagus sites verynearby to watercourses. In order to maintain viable long-term Guignapopulations, corridors between protected areas should be established,particularly in habitat dominated by human presence and activities.We strongly recommend further fieldwork in protected areas andbetween them to increase the knowledge about the distribution,habitat use, and ecology of the Guigna