Eastern Mountain Coati
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The eastern mountain coati or eastern dwarf coati (''Nasuella meridensis'') is a small
procyonid Procyonidae ( ) is a New World family (biology), family of the order (biology), order Carnivora. It includes the Procyon (genus), raccoons, ringtails, cacomistles, coatis, kinkajous, olingos, and olinguitos. Procyonids inhabit a wide range of e ...
found in
cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, Montane forest, montane, Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist forest characteri ...
and
páramo Páramo () may refer to a variety of alpine tundra ecosystems located in the Andes Mountain Range, South America. Some ecologists describe the páramo broadly as "all high, tropical, montane vegetation above the continuous timberline". A narrower ...
at elevations of in the
Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...
of western
Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
. Until 2009, it was included as a
subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...
of the
western mountain coati The western mountain coati or western dwarf coati (''Nasuella olivacea'') is a small procyonid, found in cloud forest and páramo at altitudes of in the Andes of Colombia and Ecuador.Helgen, K. M., R. Kays, L. E. Helgen, M. T. N. Tsuchiya-Jerep ...
(''Nasuella olivacea''), but the eastern mountain coati is overall smaller, somewhat shorter-tailed on average, has markedly smaller teeth, a paler
olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'' ("European olive"), is a species of Subtropics, subtropical evergreen tree in the Family (biology), family Oleaceae. Originating in Anatolia, Asia Minor, it is abundant throughout the Mediterranean ...
-brown
pelage A fur is a soft, thick growth of hair that covers the skin of almost all 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 ...
, and usually a dark mid-dorsal stripe on the back versus more
rufescent Rufous () is a color that may be described as reddish-brown or brownish-red, as of rust or oxidised iron. The first recorded use of ''rufous'' as a color name in English was in 1782. However, the color is also recorded earlier in 1527 as a dia ...
or blackish, and usually without a dark mid-dorsal stripe in the western mountain coati. When the two were combined, they were classified as
Data Deficient A data deficient (DD) species is one which has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as offering insufficient information for a proper assessment of conservation status to be made. This does not necessaril ...
on the
IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...
but following the split the eastern mountain coati is considered
endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...
. A genetic analysis revealed that it should be regarded as a synonym of ''N. olivacea''. The physical differences between the ''N. meridensis'' and ''N. olivacae'' is suggested to be of allopatric nature and is attributed to a geographical gap at the Columbian-Venezuelan border.


References

Coatis Carnivorans of South America Mammals of the Andes Mammals of Venezuela Endemic fauna of Venezuela Páramo fauna Coati, Western mountain Mammals described in 1901 Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas {{carnivora-stub