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List of mammals of Central America

{{Short description|none}}

File:Map-Central America2.png, as defined for this article]]

{{Central America series}}

This is a list of the native wild mammal species recorded in Central America. Central America is usually defined as the southernmost extension of North America; however, from a biological standpoint it is useful to view it as a separate region of the Americas. Central America is distinct from the remainder of North America in being a tropical region, part of the Neotropical realm, whose flora and fauna display a strong South American influence. The rest of North America is mostly subtropical or temperate, belongs to the Nearctic realm, and has far fewer species of South American origin.

At present Central America bridges North and South America, facilitating migrations in both directions, but this phenomenon is relatively recent from a geological perspective. The formation of this land bridge through volcanic activity three million years ago precipitated the Great American Interchange, an important biogeographical event. In part because of this history, Central America is extremely biodiverse; it comprises most of the Mesoamerican biodiversity hotspot.{{cite web

| title = Mesoamerica | work = Conservation International web site

| publisher = Conservation International

| url = http://www.conservation.org/where/priority_areas/hotspots/north_central_america/Mesoamerica/Pages/default.aspx

| access-date = 2012-11-05}} The mountains running down the spine of Central America have also contributed to biodiversity by creating montane habitats, including cloud forests and grasslands, and by separating species from the lowlands along the Pacific and Caribbean coasts. However, Central America's biodiversity suffered a blow in the Quaternary extinction event, which started around 12,500 cal BP, at roughly the time of arrival of Paleoindians; much of the megafauna died out at this time. The effects of modern human activities on climate and ecosystem integrity pose a further threat to Central America's fauna.

This list consists of those mammal species found from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to the northwestern border of Colombia, a region including the Mexican states of Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo, and the nations of Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. As of May 2012, the list contains 378 species, 177 genera, 47 families and 13 orders. Of the taxa from nonflying, nonmarine groups (203 species, 91 genera, 31 families and 10 orders), those of South American origin (opossums, xenarthrans, monkeys and caviomorph rodents) comprise 21% of species, 34% of genera, 52% of families and 50% of orders. Thus, South America's contribution to Central America's biodiversity is fairly modest at the species level, but substantial at higher taxonomic levels. In comparison to South America, a famously biodiverse continent, Central America has 27% as many species, 51% as many genera, 81% as many families and 86% as many orders (considering noncetacean taxa only), while having only 4.3% of the land area.

Of the species, two are extinct, eleven are critically endangered, thirteen are endangered, twenty are vulnerable, twenty are near threatened, thirty-five are data deficient and five are not yet evaluated.{{refn | This list is derived from the IUCN Red List which lists species of mammals. The taxonomy and naming of the individual species is based on those used in existing Wikipedia articles as of 21 May 2007 and supplemented by the common names and taxonomy from the IUCN, Smithsonian Institution, or University of Michigan where no Wikipedia article was available. | group = n}} Mammal species presumed extinct since AD 1500 (two cases) are included. Domestic species and introduced species are not listed.

Note: this list is almost inevitably going to be incomplete, since new species are continually being recognized via discovery or reclassification. Places to check for missing species include the Wikipedia missing mammal species list, including recently removed entries, and the species listings in the articles for mammalian genera, especially those of small mammals such as rodents or bats.

The following tags are used to highlight each species' conservation status as assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature; those on the left are used here, those in the second column in some other articles:

class="wikitable" style="text-align:left"
EX{{IUCN status|EX}}ExtinctNo reasonable doubt that the last individual has died.
EW{{IUCN status|EW}}Extinct in the wildKnown only to survive in captivity or as a naturalized population well outside its historic range.
CR{{IUCN status|CR}}Critically endangeredThe species is in imminent danger of extinction in the wild.
EN{{IUCN status|EN}}EndangeredThe species is facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild.
VU{{IUCN status|VU}}VulnerableThe species is facing a high risk of extinction in the wild.
NT{{IUCN status|NT}}Near threatenedThe species does not qualify as being at high risk of extinction but is likely to do so in the future.
LC{{IUCN status|LC}}Least concernThe species is not currently at risk of extinction in the wild.
DD{{IUCN status|DD}}Data deficientThere is inadequate information to assess the risk of extinction for this species.
NE{{IUCN status|NE}}Not evaluatedThe conservation status of the species has not been studied.

The IUCN status of the listed species was last updated between November 2008 and March 2009.

Subclass: [[Theria]]

File:Central American woolly opossum (Caluromys derbianus) male.jpg]]

File:Schwimmbeutler-drawing2.jpg]]

File:Possum122708b.jpg]]

File:Rabipelao2.jpg]]

File:Marmosa robinsoni.jpg]]

File:Cuica verdadeira2.jpg]]

=Infraclass: [[Metatheria]]=

Marsupials are an infraclass of pouched mammals that was once more widely distributed. Today they are found primarily in isolated or formerly isolated continents of Gondwanan origin. Those of Central America are relatively recent immigrants from South America. Central America's 10 extant genera compares with 22 in South America, 1 in North America north of Mexico, 52 in Australia, 28 in New Guinea and 2 in Sulawesi. South American marsupials are thought to be ancestral to those of Australia and elsewhere.

==Superorder: [[Ameridelphia]]==

===Order: [[Didelphimorphia]] (common opossums)===

Didelphimorphia is the order of common opossums of the Western Hemisphere. Opossums probably diverged from the basic South American marsupials in the late Cretaceous or early Paleocene. They are small to medium-sized marsupials, about the size of a large house cat, with a long snout and prehensile tail.

=Infraclass: [[Eutheria]]=

==Superorder [[Afrotheria]]==

===Order: [[Sirenia]] (manatees and dugongs)===

File:Manatee with calf.PD.jpg]]

Sirenia is an order of fully aquatic, herbivorous mammals that inhabit rivers, estuaries, coastal marine waters, swamps, and marine wetlands. All four extant species are endangered. They evolved about 50 million years ago, and their closest living relatives are elephants. The manatees are the only extant afrotherians in the Americas. However, a number proboscid species, some of which survived until the arrival of Paleoindians, once inhabited the region. Mammoths, mastodons and gomphotheres all reached Central America.

File:Nine-banded Armadillo.jpg]]

File:Bradypus variegatus.jpg]]

File:Choloepus hoffmanni (Puerto Viejo, CR) crop.jpg]]

File:Silky Anteater cropped.jpg]]

File:Tamanduá-bandeira com filhote em pastagem - cropped.jpg]]

File:Tamandua mexicana 2.jpg]]

==Superorder [[Xenarthra]]==

===Order: [[Cingulata]] (armadillos)===

The armadillos are small mammals with a bony armored shell. Two of 21 extant species are present in Central America; the remainder are only found in South America, where they originated. Their much larger relatives, the pampatheres and glyptodonts, once lived in North and South America but became extinct following the appearance of humans.

===Order: [[Pilosa]] (sloths and anteaters)===

The order Pilosa is confined to the Americas and contains the tree sloths and anteaters (which include the tamanduas). Although their ancestral home is South America, all 5 extant genera and 6 of 10 extant species are present in Central America. Numerous ground sloths, some of which reached the size of elephants, were once present in both North and South America, as well as on the Antilles, but all went extinct following the arrival of humans. Extant two-toed sloths are more closely related to some extinct ground sloths than to three-toed sloths.

==Superorder [[Euarchontoglires]]==

===Order: [[Primates]]===

{{main|List of Central American monkey species}}

File:Panamanian Night Monkeys2.jpg]]

File:Geoffroy's Tamarin (Saguinus geoffroyi) 3.jpg]]

File:Capuchin Costa Rica2.jpg]]

File:Central American Squirrel Monkey.jpg]]

File:Sitting Alouatta palliata, Costa Rica.JPG]]

File:Spider monkey -Belize Zoo-8b.jpg]]

The order Primates includes the lemurs, monkeys, and apes, with the latter category including humans. It is divided into four main groupings: strepsirrhines, tarsiers, monkeys of the New World (parvorder Platyrrhini), and monkeys and apes of the Old World. Central America's 6 genera of nonhuman primates compares with 20 in South America, 15 in Madagascar, 23 in Africa and 19 in Asia. Central American monkeys are recent immigrants from South America, where their ancestors arrived after rafting over from Africa 25 million years ago.

===Order: [[Rodent]]ia (rodents)===

File:mexican-hairy-porcupine-1.jpg]]

File:Hydrochoerus isthmius.jpg]]

File:Dasyprocta punctata guatemala 2004.jpg]]

File:Cuniculus paca.jpg]]

File:Hoplomys gymnurus1.jpg

Rodents make up the largest order of mammals, with over 40% of mammalian species. They have two incisors in the upper and lower jaw which grow continually and must be kept short by gnawing. Most rodents are small, although the capybara can weigh up to {{convert|45|kg|abbr=on}}. Central America's 11 species of caviomorph rodents (10% of its total rodent species) are recent immigrants from South America, where their ancestors washed ashore after rafting across the Atlantic from Africa over 30 million years ago.{{cite journal

| title=Recent advances in South American mammalian paleontology

|author1=Flynn, J. J. |author2=Wyss, A. R. | journal=Trends in Ecology and Evolution

| volume=13 | issue=11 | pages=449–454 | year=1998 |doi= 10.1016/S0169-5347(98)01457-8 | pmid=21238387

}} The remainder of Central America's rodents are of Nearctic origin. Ancestral sigmodontine rodents{{Cite web

| last = Steppan | first = Scott J. | title = Sigmodontinae: Neotropical mice and rats

| work = Tree of Life Web Project

| year = 1996 | url = http://tolweb.org/Sigmodontinae | access-date = 2010-04-14}} apparently island-hopped from Central America to South America 5 or more million years ago,{{cite journal

| last = Marshall | first = L. G. |author2=Butler, R. F. |author3=Drake, R. E. |author4=Curtis, G. H. |author5=Tedford, R. H.

| title = Calibration of the Great American Interchange

| journal = Science

| volume = 204 | issue = 4390 | pages = 272–279

| date = 1979-04-20

| doi = 10.1126/science.204.4390.272

| pmid = 17800342| bibcode = 1979Sci...204..272M | s2cid = 8625188}}{{cite journal

| last = Engel | first = S. R. |author2=Hogan, K. M. |author3=Taylor, J. F. |author4=Davis, S. K.

| title = Molecular Systematics and Paleobiogeography of the South American Sigmodontine Rodents

| journal = Molecular Biology and Evolution

| volume = 15 | issue = 1 | pages = 35–49

| year = 1998

| doi =10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a025845

| pmid = 9491603 | doi-access =}}{{cite journal

| last = Smith | first = M. F. |author2=Patton, J. L.

| title = Phylogenetic Relationships and the Radiation of Sigmodontine Rodents in South America: Evidence from Cytochrome b

| journal = Journal of Mammalian Evolution | volume = 6 | issue = 2 | pages = 89–128 | year = 1999

| doi = 10.1023/A:1020668004578

| s2cid = 22355532}} prior to the formation of the Panamanian land bridge. They went on to diversify explosively, and now comprise 60% of South America's rodent species, while only making up 27% of Central America's.{{refn | This is based on the definition of Sigmodontinae that excludes Neotominae and Tylomyinae. | group = n}}

File:Sciurus variegatoides Costa Rica 2.jpg]]

File:Yucatan gray squirrel.jpg]]

File:Sciuridae Poas1.jpg]]

File:Scotinomys teguina, Nyctomys sumichrasti.jpg (right) and Alston's brown mouse (left)]]

File:Oryzomys couesi, Tylomys panamensis.jpg (below) and Coues' rice rat (above)]]

File:White.footed.mouse.with.sucklings.jpg]]

File:Sigmodon hispidus1.jpg (cotton rat) sp.]]

===Order: [[Lagomorpha]] (lagomorphs)===

File:Sylvilagus brasiliensis1.jpg]]

File:Wild rabbit us.jpg]]

The lagomorphs comprise two families, Leporidae (hares and rabbits), and Ochotonidae (pikas). Though they can resemble rodents, and were classified as a superfamily in that order until the early 20th century, they have since been considered a separate order. They differ from rodents in a number of physical characteristics, such as having four incisors in the upper jaw rather than two. Central America's lagomorph diversity is considerably less than that of Mexico as a whole, but is greater than that of South America.

==Superorder [[Laurasiatheria]]==

===Order: [[Eulipotyphla]] (shrews, hedgehogs, moles, and solenodons)===

Eulipotyphlans are insectivorous mammals. Shrews and solenodons closely resemble mice, hedgehogs carry spines, while moles are stout-bodied burrowers. Central America's shrew diversity is comparable to that of Mexico as a whole, and is considerably greater than that of South America. Moles are not found in the Americas south of northern Mexico.

===Order: [[Chiroptera]] (bats)===

File:Captive Noctilio leporinus.jpg]]

File:Big brown bat.jpg]]

File:Lasiurus blossevillii2.jpg]]

File:Lasurius cinereus.jpg]]

The bats' most distinguishing feature is that their forelimbs are developed as wings, making them the only mammals capable of flight. Bat species account for about 20% of all mammals.

File:Nyctinomops macrotus.jpeg]]

File:Costa-Rica-Bat-IMG 8315b.jpg or lesser sac-winged bat]]

File:Sbilineata.jpg]]

File:Mormoops megalophylla.JPG]]

File:Pteronotus parnellii.jpg]]

File:Phyllostomus discolor2b.jpg]]

File:Long-Tongued Bat at hummingbird feeder cropped.jpg]]

File:Southern long-nosed bat.jpg]]

File:Lonchophylla robusta.jpg]]

File:Carollia brevicauda.jpg]]

File:Artibeus jamaicensis los tuxtlas 2008.jpg]]

File:Artibeus sp. Tortuguero National Park crop.jpg sp.]]

File:Centurio senex.jpg]]

File:Chiroderma salvini2.jpg]]

File:Ectophylla alba Costa Rica.jpg]]

File:Sturnira lilium lostuxtlas2008.jpg]]

File:Uroderma bilobatum, Gamboa, Panama 2.jpg]]

File:Desmodus.jpg]]

File:dyoungi.jpg]]

===Order: [[Carnivora]] (carnivorans)===

File:Ocelot (Leopardus pardalis)-8.jpg]]

File:Jaguar head shot.jpg]]

File:Canis latrans2.jpg]]

File:Bassariscus sumichrasti geo.jpg]]

File:MexicanCoati2.jpg]]

File:Bassaricyon gabbii.jpg]]

File:Tayra.jpg]]

File:Lontra longicaudis 2b.jpg]]

File:Conepatus semistriatus - Museo Civico di Storia Naturale Giacomo Doria - Genoa, Italy - DSC02689.JPG]]

File:Cms-newyorkzoologicalsociety1910.jpg]]

There are over 260 species of carnivorans, the majority of which feed primarily on meat. They have a characteristic skull shape and dentition. All of Central America's terrestrial carnivorans are of Nearctic origin. Central America has the greatest diversity of procyonids in the world. Large extinct carnivorans that lived in the area prior to the coming of humans include the saber-toothed cat Smilodon fatalis, the scimitar cat Homotherium serum, American lions, dire wolves and short-faced bears.

===Order: [[Perissodactyla]] (odd-toed ungulates)===

File:Belize21b.jpg]]

The odd-toed ungulates are browsing and grazing mammals. They are usually large to very large, and have relatively simple stomachs and a large middle toe. While native equids once lived in the region, having evolved in North America over a period of 50 million years, they died out around the time of the first arrival of humans, along with at least one ungulate of South American origin, the notoungulate, Mixotoxodon. Sequencing of collagen from a fossil of one recently extinct notoungulate has indicated that this order was closer to the perissodactyls than any extant mammal order.{{cite journal|last1=Welker|first1=F.|last2= Collins|first2=M. J.|last3=Thomas|first3=J. A.|last4=Wadsley|first4= M.|last5=Brace|first5 =S.|last6=Cappellini|first6=E.|last7=Turvey|first7=S. T.|last8=Reguero|first8= M.|last9=Gelfo|first9=J. N.|last10= Kramarz|first10= A.|last11=Burger|first11=J.|last12=Thomas-Oates|first12= J.|last13= Ashford|first13=D. A.|last14=Ashton|first14=P. D.|last15= Rowsell|first15= K.|last16=Porter|first16=D. M.|last17= Kessler|first17= B.|last18= Fischer|first18=R.|last19=Baessmann|first19= C.|last20= Kaspar|first20=S.|last21=Olsen|first21=J. V.|last22= Kiley|first22= P.|last23=Elliott|first23=J. A.|last24= Kelstrup|first24=C. D.|last25= Mullin|first25= V.|last26= Hofreiter|first26=M.|last27= Willerslev|first27= E.|last28=Hublin|first28=J.-J.|last29=Orlando|first29= L.|last30= Barnes|first30=I.|last31= MacPhee|first31=R. D. E.|author2-link=Matthew Collins (academic)|author12-link=Jane Thomas-Oates|author17-link=Benedikt Kessler|author27-link=Eske Willerslev|title=Ancient proteins resolve the evolutionary history of Darwin's South American ungulates|journal= Nature|date=2015-03-18|issn=0028-0836|doi= 10.1038/nature14249|volume=522|issue=7554|pages=81–84|pmid=25799987|bibcode=2015Natur.522...81W|s2cid=4467386|url=http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/bitstream/handle/10915/127194/Documento_completo.pdf?sequence=1}}

===Order: [[Artiodactyla]] (even-toed ungulates and cetaceans)===

File:Collared peccary02 - melbourne zoo.jpg]]

File:White-lipped Peccary (Tayassu pecari) (Captive specimen) (40554971072).jpg]]

File:Mazama americana.jpg]]

The weight of even-toed ungulates is borne about equally by the third and fourth toes, rather than mostly or entirely by the third as in perissodactyls. There are about 220 noncetacean artiodactyl species, including many that are of great economic importance to humans. All of Central America's extant ungulates are of Nearctic origin. Prior to the arrival of humans, Nearctic camelids also lived in the region.

====Infraorder: [[Cetacea]] (whales, dolphins and porpoises)====

File:Anim1754 - Flickr - NOAA Photo Library.jpg]]

File:Humpback Whale underwater shot.jpg]]

File:Tursiops truncatus 01.jpg]]

File:Atlantic spotted dolphin (Stenella frontalis) NOAA.jpg]]

File:Spinner dolphin jumping.JPG]]

File:Fraser s group.jpg.jpeg]]

File:Killerwhales jumping.jpg]]

File:Pseudoorca Crassidens - False Killer Whale.jpg]]

The infraorder Cetacea includes whales, dolphins and porpoises. They are the mammals most fully adapted to aquatic life with a spindle-shaped nearly hairless body, protected by a thick layer of blubber, and forelimbs and tail modified to provide propulsion underwater. Their closest extant relatives are the hippos, which are artiodactyls, from which cetaceans descended; cetaceans are thus also artiodactyls.

See also

Notes

{{reflist

| group = n}}

References

{{Reflist}}

  • {{Cite book | last = Eisenberg | first = John F. | author-link = John F. Eisenberg | title = Mammals of the Neotropics, Volume 1: The Northern Neotropics: Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana | publisher = University of Chicago Press | date = 15 May 1989 | url = http://google.com/books?id=Dmj_HILpXXcC | isbn =978-0-226-19540-7 |oclc = 772478260}}
  • {{cite book|last1=Emmons|first1=Louise|last2=Feer|first2=François|author1-link= Louise H. Emmons|title=Neotropical Rainforest Mammals: A Field Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cqkfJIQG84QC|date=January 1997|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-20721-6|oclc=20296862}}
  • {{Cite book | last = Reid | first = Fiona A. | title = A Field Guide to the Mammals of Central America & Southeast Mexico | publisher = Oxford University Press | date = 2 June 2009 | edition = 2nd | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=aBEbUaXTWYAC | isbn = 978-0-195-34322-9 |oclc = 312626014}}
  • {{MSW3 | id = | page =}}
  • {{cite web |url=http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/index.html |title=Animal Diversity Web |publisher=University of Michigan Museum of Zoology |date=1995–2006 |access-date = 22 May 2007}}

Lists of Western Hemisphere mammals from north to south

{{center|List of mammals of Greenland

{{North America topic|List of mammals of}}

List of mammals of Mexico

{{Carib mammals}}

{{Central America topic2|List of mammals of}}

{{South America topic|List of mammals of}}

List of mammals of Antarctica}}

{{Americas topic|List of mammals of}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Central American Mammals}}

01

Central America