Artículos

 

First records of the Ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) in the state of Hidalgo, Mexico

 

Primer registro de ocelote (Leopardus pardalis)  en el estado de Hidalgo, México

 

Sergio Daniel Hernández-Flores¹*, Guadalupe Vargas-Licona¹ and Gerardo Sánchez-Rojas¹

 

¹ Laboratorio de Conservación Biológica, Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo. S/N Carretera Pachuca-Tulancingo km 4.5, Colonia Carboneras, Mineral de la Reforma, Hidalgo, México 42184. E-mail: danielhf83@hotmail.com¹*(SDH-F); gvlicona@hotmail.com (GV-L); gerardosanchezrojas@hotmail.com (GS-R) * Corresponding autor.

 

Sometido: 30 de diciembre de 2012.
Revisado: 8 de enero de 2013.
Aceptado: 21 de enero de 2013.

 

Abstract

We report the first records of ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) in Hidalgo, Mexico. The first record refers to the skin examination of a specimen which was captured in the municipality of Metztitlan and the second relates to a photographic record from a camera trap in the municipality of Tianguistengo.

Key words: Hidalgo, ocelot, records.

 

Resumen

Se registran los dos primeros ejemplares confirmados del ocelote (Leopardus pardalis) para el estado de Hidalgo, México. El primero se basa en una piel de un ejemplar cazado en el municipio de Metztitlán y el segundo por medio de una fotografía de una trampa-cámara del municipio de Tianguistengo.

Palabras clave: Hidalgo, ocelote, registros.

 

Introducción

The ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) is a species considered by Mexican legislation to be in danger of extinction as stated in the NOM-ECOL-059 (SEMARNAT 2010) as well as in Appendix I of the convention concerning International trade in endangered species of fauna and flora (CITES 2012). It is considered by the IUCN Red List to be of the "Least Concern" status, perhaps due to its abundance in South America's Amazon basin (Case et al. 2008). Nonetheless, the Red List lists its population trend as "decreasing" (Case et al. 2008). The destruction of their habitat and heavy pressure from hunting, to which this species is commonly subjected, are considered the main causes of the decline (Aranda 2005; Sunquist and Sunquist 2009).

The presence of this cat in Hidalgo is to be expected, because it has been reported in the nearby States of Mexico, Puebla, Veracruz and San Luis Potosi. However no precise record for Hidalgo appears in the literature (Hall 1981; Murray and Gardner 1997; Mejenes et al. 2010), in scientific collections, or in online electronic databases (GBIF: Global Biodiversity Information Facility. MANIS: The Mammal Networked Information System or UNIBIO: Computer Unit for biodiversity).

As a result of fieldwork in the municipalities of Metztitlan and Tianguistego in 2011, we confirmed two instances of ocelot (L. pardalis) in the state of Hidalgo (Fig. 1). The first instance was an examination of the skin of an animal caught in the municipality of Metztitlan. Local residents of the Zoquizoquipan community (Fig. 2) caught the animal in a pine-oak forest (Pinus-Quercus) in 2005. The location of the capture site was determined based on comments of local residents who had been previously interviewed, (-98.6913599^o W, 20.6402825^o N). Subsequently, on 16 June 2011 this species was also recorded by a camera trap operated by the authors (Wildview Extreme Series 2.0 Megapixel Camera X2IR) in the Oxpantla community, municipality of Tianguistengo, approximately 7.8 km from the first recorded instance, in an area domintated by cloud forest (-98.6402595^o W, 20.6905798^o N; Fig. 3).

The importance of these records are that they confirm the presence of ocelot in the state of Hidalgo, which could be a starting point for studies aimed at the conservation of this species. This species is considered among the 10 carnivores most at risk of extinction in Mexico, after Nasua nelsoni, Procyon pygmaeus, Procyon insularis, Spilogale pygmaea, Panthera onca and Canislupusbaileyi (Valenzuela and Vazquez 2007). Likewise, it is also vulnerable because it has a lower reproductive potential than other medium-sized cats such as the Lynx (Sunquist and Sunquist 2009). Finally, today it is increasingly important to attain and report precise data concerning the geographical location of species, as this contributes to larger studies with the goal of mapping biodiversity (Levergne et al. 2010).

 

Agradecimientos

We would like to thank J. L. Atilano for his great concern for the preservation of the plants and animals of the region and also for inviting us to his property. We also thank C. Aguilar Miguel and C. Garcia Chavez for their friendship and assistance with our fieldwork and thanks a lot to D. A. Jackson by reviewing the English manuscript.

 

Literatura citada

Aranda, M. 2005. Leopardus pardalis. Pp. 359-360 in Los mamíferos silvestres de México (Ceballos, G., and G. Oliva eds.). Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad. Ciudad de México, México.         [ Links ]

Caso, A., C. López, E. Payan, E. Eizirik, T. De Oliveira, R. Leite-Pitman, M. Kelly, and C. Valderrama. 2008. Leopardus pardalis. In IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 03.II.2012.         [ Links ]

CITES (Convención sobre el comercio internacional de especies amenazadas de fauna y flora silvestre). 2007. Apéndices I, II y III en vigor a partir del 25 de septiembre de 2012. http://www.cites.org/esp/app/appendices.php.         [ Links ]

Hall, E. R. 1981. The mammals of North America. John Wiley and Sons, New York, EE.UU.         [ Links ]

Levergne, N., W. Thuiller, and O. Ronce. 2010. Biodiversity and Climate Change: Integrating Evolutionary and Ecological Responses of Species and Communities. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution and Systematic 41:321-50.         [ Links ]

MANIS (Mammal Networked Information System). 2011. University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720. The Regents of the University of California. http://manisnet.org/. Reviewed in 2012 March.         [ Links ]

Mejenes, S. de M., M. Hernández, J. Barragán, and J. Pacheco. 2010. Los mamíferos en el estado de Hidalgo. Therya 3:161-188.         [ Links ]

Murray, J. L., and G. Gardner. 1997. Felispardalis. Mammalian Species 548:1-10.         [ Links ]

REMIB (Red mundial de información sobre biodiversidad). 2011. Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad. http://www.conabio.gob.mx/remib/. Reviewed in 2012 March.         [ Links ]

Sunquist, M. E., and F. C. Sunquist. 2009. Family Felidae (Cats). Pp. 145 in Handbook of The mammals of the World. Volum 1. Carnivores (Wilson, D. E., and R. A. Mittermeier eds.). Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, España.         [ Links ]

UNIBIO (Unidad de informática para la biodiversidad-Universidad Autónoma de México). 2010. http://unibio.unam.mx/. Reviewed in 2012 March.         [ Links ]

Valenzuela, D., and L. B. Vázquez. 2007. Consideraciones para priorizar la conservación de carnívoros mexicanos. Pp. 197-214 in Tópicos en sistemática, biogeografía, ecología y conservación de mamíferos (Sánchez-Rojas, G., and A. E. Rojas-Martínez eds.). Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo. Pachuca, México.         [ Links ]

 

Notas:

Editor asociado: Williams Lidicker.

Diseño gráfico editorial: Gerardo Hernández.