Rediscovery and conservation status of the northern river otter Lontra canadensis in Mexico
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Abstract
The North American river otter (Lontra canadensis) is considered extinct in Mexico because there have been no records since the last century. In contrast, the Neotropical river otter is widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of the country. There are recent otter records identified as L. longicaudis in the San Pedro River, tributary of Rio Conchos, in the Chihuahuan Desert. With field work and morphological, ecological and biogeographical evidence we evaluated the identity of these specimens and concluded that they are in fact a relict population of L. canadensis. This is the first time that the species is recorded in Mexico in a century. This is a very relevant finding for the biological diversity of Mexico. This discovery has important implications for the species’ distribution and conservation in Mexico and North America.
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Revista Mexicana de Mastozoología, nueva época by Instituto de Ecología, UNAM. Distributed under a Licencia Creative Commons Atribución-NoComercial-CompartirIgual 4.0 Internacional.
Based on a work in: http://revistamexicanademastozoologia.com.mx/ojs/index.php/rmm.
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