Cozumel Raccoon

Taxobox
name = Cozumel RaccoonMSW3 Wozencraft | pages=627–628 | id=14001658]
status = EN
trend = down
status_system = iucn2.3
status_ref = IUCN2007|assessors=Mustelid Specialist Group|year=1996|id=18267|title=Procyon pygmaeus |downloaded=2008-08-13]
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Carnivora
familia = Procyonidae
genus = "Procyon"
species = "P. pygmaeus "
binomial = "Procyon pygmaeus "
binomial_authority = (Merriam, 1901)

The Cozumel Raccoon ("Procyon pygmaeus"), also called Pygmy Raccoon,cite book | last=Helgen | first=Kristofer M. | coauthors=Wilson, Don E. | editor=Sánchez-Cordero, Víctor; Medellín, Rodrigo A. | title=Contribuciones mastozoológicas en homenaje a Bernardo Villa | url=http://books.google.de/books?id=PQphdAd9KKcC | accessdate=2008-08-09 | year=2005 | publisher=Instituto de Ecología of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México | location=Mexico City | isbn=978-9703226030 | pages=221–236 | chapter=A Systematic and Zoogeographic Overview of the Raccoons of Mexico and Central America ] is an endangered species of raccoon endemic on Cozumel Island off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico.cite book | last=Zeveloff | first=Samuel I. | title=Raccoons: A Natural History | publisher=Smithsonian Books | location=Washington, D. C. | year=2002 | isbn=978-1588340337 | pages=45 (This source was used for the whole article unless noted otherwise.)]

Classification

Clinton Hart Merriam first described the Cozumel Raccoon as morphologically distinctive from its mainland relative, the Common Raccoon subspecies "Procyon lotor hernandezii", in 1901. Since then, other scientists have generally agreed with Merriam's assessment, especially Kristofer M. Helgen and Don E. Wilson who have dismissed this classification for the other four island raccoons in their studies in 2003 and 2005.cite journal | last=Helgen | first=Kristofer M. | coauthors=Wilson, Don E. | year=2003 | month=January | title=Taxonomic status and conservation relevance of the raccoons ("Procyon" spp.) of the West Indies | journal=Journal of Zoology | volume=259 | issue=1 | pages=69-76 | publisher=The Zoological Society of London | location=Oxford | issn=0952-8369] Therefore, the Cozumel Raccoon was listed as the only distinct species of the genus "Procyon" besides the Common Raccoon and the Crab-eating Raccoon in the third edition of Mammal Species of the World. An archaeological study showed that Maya from Cozumel used raccoons of reduced stature, which suggests that the size reduction of this raccoon is not a recent phenomenon.cite book | author = Hamblin, NL | year = 1984 | title = Animal Use by the Cozumel Maya | publisher = The University of Arizona Press | location = Tucson]

Description

Merriam described the Cozumel Raccoon as being markedly smaller, both externally and cranially and easy to distinguish from the Common Raccoon because of its "broad black throat band and golden yellow tail, short posteriorly expanded and rounded nasals and peculiarities of the teeth".cite journal | author = Merriam, CH | year = 1901 | title = Six new mammals from Cozumel Island, Yucatan | journal = Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington | volume = 14 | pages = 99-104] Its reduced teeth point to a long period of isolation.cite journal | author = Goldman, EA | year = 1950 | title = Raccoons of North and Middle America | journal = North American Fauna | volume = 60 | pages = 1-153] The Cozumel Raccoon is an example of insular dwarfism, weighing only 3-4 kg in average.

References