Tapirus terrestris (Linnaeus 1758)

[Hippopotamus] terrestris Linnaeus 1758, Syst. Nat., 10th ed., Vol. 1: 74.

Type Locality: "Habitat in Brasilia", i.e., Brazil, Pernambuco.

Vernacular Names: South American Tapir.

Subspecies::

Subspecies Tapirus terrestris subsp. terrestris Linnaeus 1758

Subspecies Tapirus terrestris subsp. aenigmaticus Gray 1872

Subspecies Tapirus terrestris subsp. colombianus Hershkovitz 1954

Subspecies Tapirus terrestris subsp. spegazzinii Amhegino 1916

Distribution: East of the western cordillera of the Andes in N Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, E Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Surinam, and Venezuela.

Conservation: CITES – Appendix II; U.S. ESA – Endangered; IUCN – Vulnerable.

Discussion: Revised by Hershkovitz (1954), who provisionally recognized only nominate terrestris and colombianus as subspecies but indicated that tapir was probably a valid Guiana subspecies, and by Cabrera (1961), whose classification is followed here. Reviewed by Padilla and Dowler (1994, Mammalian Species, 481).