Expansion of the southern distribution of the pacarana (Dinomys branickii) recorded in the Serranía del Iñao, Bolivia

Abstract

The Pacarana (Dinomys branickii, Peters 1873) is a large South American rodent, the only living representative of the Dinomyidae family. Its distribution ranges from Colombia and Venezuela to Brazil, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, in an elevation range between 200 and 3200 meters above sea level. In Bolivia it is known in Andean and adjacent plain forests from the Amboró National Park in Santa Cruz to the north, but in a photo-trapping survey of mammals it was recorded in the protected area Serranía del Iñao National Park and ANMI, in the department of Chuquisaca (~ 64°0' W; 19°20' S). With an effort of 1347 night-traps at 26 stations, two records of pacarana were obtained 55 km from each other. The first site is in the NE of the park, at an altitude of 630 masl in sub-Andean-inter-Andean riparian forests and the second in the SW, at 1.353 meters above sea level in sub-humid forests of the upper sub-Andean slopes. These findings extend the southern limit of its distribution by 170 km, and add new types of Bolivian-Tucumanian vegetation to the knowledge of its habitat.