Systematics, Distribution, and Conservation Status of Dice's Cottontail, Sylvilagus Dicei Harris, 1932 (mammalia, Lagomorpha, Leporidae), in Central America
Sponsor
Time for the fieldwork undertaken as part of this research by JMM was financed by project # 286 of the Universidad Nacional (UNA), Costa Rica. Daniel Tobías, Unidad de Ciencias Básicas, and Emilce Rivera, Carrera de Gestión Ecoturística, Universidad Técnica Nacional (UTN), kindly provided time to JMM to work on this manuscript. JMM gratefully thanks the many people who provided specimens and other help in the course of this project; in particular, special thanks to Max Arce and Byron Arce of Varablanca de Heredia, Giovanny Camacho of Isla Verde, and Marvin and Silvia Céspedes of Cedral de Miramar. Portions of this work were undertaken under the auspices of NSF grant DEB–0616305 to LAR and J. Salazar–Bravo (Texas Tech University).
Published In
Systematics and Biodiversity
Document Type
Citation
Publication Date
10-23-2020
Abstract
Dice’s cottontail, Sylvilagus dicei, only was recognized as a valid species in 1981 after having been subsumed in synonymy with S. brasiliensis and S. gabbi, which latter also at times had been synonymized with an ill-defined and broadly distributed S. brasiliensis. Phylogenetic relationships of S. dicei remain poorly resolved, as does the distribution of the species. We collected new specimens of S. dicei and carried out phylogenetic analyses of combined cytochrome-b and 12S rRNA mitochondrial loci. Molecular data confirm the taxonomic status of S. dicei as a species and place it basal to the South American S. brasiliensis radiation; the successive sister taxon to this clade is Gabb’s cottontail, S. gabbi. Time-calibrated analyses support simultaneous internal diversification events in S. dicei and S. gabbi ∼250 KYA. The new specimens, together with literature and museum records including the holotype, enabled us to more accurately map the distribution of S. dicei. Specimens are restricted to forested uplands in Costa Rica and western Panama. Although the total altitudinally suitable area for the species is 10,313 km2, removal of urban and agricultural areas not suited for its habitation result in a fragmented range of 9,115 km2. Conservation threats include high predation loads from the invasive coyote, Canis latrans, urbanization, agriculture, and hunting.
Rights
Copyright © 2020 Informa UK Limited
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DOI
10.1080/14772000.2020.1827075
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/34477
Citation Details
Mora, J. M., Silva, S. M., López, L. I., Burnham–curtis, M. K., Wostenberg, D. J., French, J. H., & Ruedas, L. A. (2020). Systematics, distribution, and conservation status of Dice’s cottontail, Sylvilagus dicei Harris, 1932 (Mammalia, Lagomorpha, Leporidae), in Central America. Systematics and Biodiversity, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/14772000.2020.1827075