Cuniculus paca Linnaeus 1766

Cuniculus paca Linnaeus 1766, Syst. Nat., 12th ed., Vol. 1: 81.

Type Locality: French Guiana, Cayenne.

Vernacular Names: Lowland Paca.

Subspecies::

Subspecies Cuniculus paca subsp. paca Linnaeus 1766

Subspecies Cuniculus paca subsp. guanta Lönnberg 1921

Subspecies Cuniculus paca subsp. mexicanae Hagmann 1908

Subspecies Cuniculus paca subsp. nelsoni Goldman 1913

Subspecies Cuniculus paca subsp. virgata Bangs 1902

Distribution: SE San Luis Potosi (Mexico) to Paraguay, Guianas, S Brazil, and NE Argentina. Introduced into Cuba.

Conservation: CITES – Appendix III (Honduras) as Agouti paca; IUCN – Lower Risk (lc) as Agouti paca .

Discussion: Reviewed by Pérez (1992). Five subspecies are recognized (Cabrera, 1961; Hall, 1981) but their status needs reevaluation. Karyotype has 2n=74 and FN=56 (Fredga, 1966). Preliminary data of the extent of genetic differentiation between geographic separated populations (Rowe and Honeycutt, 2002) suggests that paca may represent populations of more than a single species.