Mesocapromys sanfelipensis
| Kingdom |
Phylum |
Class |
Order |
Family |
| ANIMALIA |
CHORDATA |
MAMMALIA |
RODENTIA |
CAPROMYIDAE |
| Scientific Name: |
Mesocapromys sanfelipensis |
| Species Authority: |
(Varona & Garrido, 1970) |
Common Name/s:
| English |
– |
Little Earth Hutia, San Felipe Hutia |
|
Assessment Information
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| Red List Category & Criteria: |
Critically Endangered
D
ver 3.1
|
| Year Published: |
2008 |
| Assessor/s: |
Soy, J. & Silva, G. |
| Reviewer/s: |
McKnight, M. (Global Mammal Assessment Team) & Amori, G. (Small Nonvolant Mammal Red List Authority) |
Justification:
Listed as Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct). This species has not been seen in nearly 40 years. Recent survey efforts failed to find any individuals of the species. If there are any individuals remaining the population would most likely be less than 50 individuals.
|
| History: |
| 1996 |
– |
Critically Endangered
|
| 1994 |
– |
Endangered
(Groombridge 1994)
|
| 1990 |
– |
Endangered
(IUCN 1990)
|
| 1988 |
– |
Endangered
(IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre 1988)
|
| 1986 |
– |
Endangered
(IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre 1986)
|
| 1982 |
– |
Endangered
(Thornback and Jenkins 1982)
|
|
Geographic Range
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| Range Description: |
This species is known from specimens collected at the type locality: Cayo Juan Garcia (21°59?N, 83°31?W), Archipiélago de los Canorreos, Pinar del Rio Province, Cuba (Woods and Kilpatrick 2005). It was last seen in 1978 when 43 animals were collected from the island.
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| Countries: |
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| Range Map: |
Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.
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Population
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| Population: |
Very little is known of the populations. Intensive trap surveys have not captured any individuals in recent efforts (Soy pers. comm.).
|
| Population Trend: |
Unknown
|
Habitat and Ecology
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| Habitat and Ecology: |
Very little is known about this species. It seems to prefer coastal forests.
|
| Systems: |
Terrestrial |
| Major Threat(s): |
It has been suggested that the reasons for the Little Earth Hutia's decline may have been hunting by humans, competition with introduced rats (Rattus rattus), and habitat loss from fires (Alvarez and Gonzales 1991). A military installation was previously located on these islands and it is believed that during this time hunting was intensive from military personnel. Today fisherman use the island and many accidental fires have resulted from their cooking fires (Soy pers. comm.).
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Conservation Actions
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| Conservation Actions: |
The islands where this species occurs is a Faunal Refuge (Cayos de San Felipe Faunal Refuge).
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Bibliography
[top]
|
Alvarez, V. B. and Gonzalez, A. C. 1991. The critical condition of hutias in Cuba. Oryx 25: 206-208.
IUCN. 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Available at: http://www.iucnredlist.org. (Accessed: 5 October 2008).
Woods, C. A. and Kilpatrick, C. W. 2005. Infraorder Hystricognathi. In: D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder (eds), Mammal Species of the World, pp. 1538-1599. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD, USA.
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