The South American foxes (''Lycalopex''), commonly called ''raposa'' in
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
, or ''zorro'' in
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
, are a
genus from
South America of the subfamily
Caninae
The Caninae, known as canines, are one of three subfamilies found within the canid family. The other two canid subfamilies are the extinct Borophaginae and Hesperocyoninae. The Caninae includes all living canids and their most recent fossil relat ...
. Despite their name, they are not
true foxes, but are a unique canid genus more closely related to wolves and jackals than to true foxes; some of them resemble foxes due to
convergent evolution. The
South American gray fox
The South American gray fox (''Lycalopex griseus''), also known as the Patagonian fox, the chilla or the gray zorro, is a species of ''Lycalopex'', the "false" foxes. It is endemic to the southern part of South America.
Description
The South A ...
, ''Lycalopex griseus'', is the most common species, and is known for its large ears and a highly marketable, russet-fringed
pelt
Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket ...
.
The second-oldest known fossils belonging to the genus were discovered in
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
, and date from 2.0 to 2.5 million years ago, in the mid- to late
Pliocene.
The
Vorohué Formation of Argentina has provided older fossils, dating to the
Uquian to
Ensenadan
The Ensenadan age is a period of geologic time (1.2–0.8 Ma) within the Early Pleistocene epoch of the Quaternary used more specifically with South American Land Mammal Ages. It follows the Uquian and precedes the Lujanian
The Lujanian age is a ...
(Late Pliocene).
[Vorohuen (sic; Vorohué) Formation]
at Fossilworks
Fossilworks is a portal which provides query, download, and analysis tools to facilitate access to the Paleobiology Database, a large relational database assembled by hundreds of paleontologists from around the world.
History
Fossilworks was crea ...
.org
Names
The common English word "zorro" is a loan word from Spanish, with the word originally meaning "fox". Current usage lists ''Pseudalopex'' (literally: "false fox") as synonymous with ''Lycalopex'' ("wolf fox"), with the latter taking precedence.
Canis
''Canis'' is a genus of the Caninae which includes multiple extant taxon, extant species, such as Wolf, wolves, dogs, coyotes, and golden jackals. Species of this genus are distinguished by their moderate to large size, their massive, well-devel ...
'', establishing the combination ''Canis (Pseudalopex)'', a name still used in the fossil record.
Species
Species currently included in this genus include:[
In 1914, Oldfield Thomas established the genus '']Dusicyon
''Dusicyon'' is an extinct genus of South American canids. The type species is ''Dusicyon australis'', the Falkland Islands wolf. In 1914, Oldfield Thomas established this genus, in which he included the culpeo and other South American foxe ...
'', in which he included these zorros. They were later reclassified to ''Lycalopex'' (via ''Pseudalopex'') by Langguth in 1975.[
]
Phylogeny
The following phylogenetic tree shows the evolutionary relationships between the ''Lycalopex'' species, based on molecular analysis of mitochondrial DNA control region sequences.
Relationship with humans
The zorros are hunted in Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
for their durable, soft pelts. They are also often labelled 'lamb-killers'.
The ''Fuegian dog
The Fuegian dog ( es, perro yagán, perro fueguino), also known as the Yahgan dog, is an extinct domesticated canid. It was a domesticated form of the culpeo (''Lycalopex culpaeus''). The culpeo is similar in build to true foxes (tribe Vulpini) ...
'' ( es, perro yagán, perro fueguino), also known as the Yaghan dog, was a domesticated form of the culpeo (''Lycalopex culpaeus''),
References
Further reading
* Nowak, Ronald M. (2005). ''Walker's Carnivores of the World''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q132687
*
Taxa named by Hermann Burmeister