Volumen 45 - Número 2: 365-370 | 2010
Nota Científica 

 PDF

Uso de pelos de guardia para la identificación de mustélidos costeros en la Patagonia

Jonatan J. Gomez^1* y Marcelo H. Cassini¹ 

¹Grupo GEMA (PROFAUNA, CONICET), Universidad Nacional de Luján, Rutas 5 y 7, 6700 Luján, Buenos Aires, Argentina

*This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The use of prey hairs found in predator faeces with the purpose of species recognition has been successfully utilized. In this study, a method was developed to discriminate between hairs from aquatic mustelids of Patagonia: the native otters Lontra provocax and L. felina, and the introduced mink Neovison vison. We found that the relationship between the width of the medulla and the total width (medulla+scales) in the zone of maximum width of the hair, allows effectively separating Lontra spp. from Neovison sp. in almost all samples. With these results, we developed a dichotomic guide that allows discriminating 100% of hair at the level of genera, and 58.3% of hair at the level of species within Lontra.

Key words: Southern river otter, marine otter, American mink

 PDF