Abstract

MORALES-MARTINEZ, Darwin M.. Mammals (Mammalia) of the Colombian Amazon. Rev. acad. colomb. cienc. exact. fis. nat. [online]. 2021, vol.45, n.175, pp.474-488.  Epub Sep 14, 2021. ISSN 0370-3908.  https://doi.org/10.18257/raccefyn.1318.

The Amazon is one of the areas with the greatest diversity of mammals worldwide. However, the knowledge about this biodiversity in the Colombian Amazon is still partial and fragmented. A list of the known and probable mammal species in the Colombian Amazon was prepared from the information in the literature and several biodiversity databases according to the political and administrative division of the region and three biogeographic provinces: Amazon, Guyana, and Norandean. The geographic representativity of the specimens was assessed and the priority areas for mammal inventories were identified. We registered 265 mammal species in the region: 94 in the Norandean province, 196 in the Amazon province, and 183 in the Guyana province. By departments, we registered between 26 in Cauca and 157 species in Caquetá and Putumayo. The species registered per order showed 137 belonging to the Chiroptera, followed by 45 belonging to the Rodentia; other orders had between one and 23 species. Most of the Amazon area in Colombia is unexplored and there are no specimens in natural history collections. Therefore, it is highly probable that almost 70 unregistered species may be found in most of the Amazon area, which makes it an ideal territory to conduct future inventories. These results show that the diversity of mammals is underestimated, as well as the need to increase the biological explorations with enough personnel and the proper sampling intensity, reinforce biological collection and encourage the use of molecular tools.

Keywords : Andes; Inventories; Biodiversity; Guiana Shield; Neotropics.

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