Mustela felipei, Linnaeus, 1758
publication ID |
https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.5714044 |
DOI |
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5714149 |
persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/038F87D4-CA4F-FFA0-CFCE-3AC2F5C8F4DC |
treatment provided by |
Conny |
scientific name |
Mustela felipei |
status |
|
Colombian Weasel
French: Belette de Colombie / German: Kolumbien-Wiesel / Spanish: Comadreja de Don Felipe
Taxonomy. Mustela felipei 1zor & de la Torre, 1978 View in CoL ,
Colombia.
Monotypic.
Distribution. Colombia and Ecuador. View Figure
Descriptive notes. Head-body 21.7-22.5 cm, tail 11.1-12.2 cm; weight c. 138 g. The Columbian Weasel has a long body and short limbs. The pelage is long and soft, almost entirely dark brown on the back, with pale orange undersides. All the feet have extensive webbing, with naked plantar surfaces.
Habitat. Most specimens were collected near riparian areas, at elevations between 1700-2700 m.
Food and Feeding. Nothing known.
Activity patterns. Nothing known.
Movements, Home range and Social organization. Nothing known.
Breeding. Nothing known.
Status and Conservation. Classified as Vulnerable in The IUCN Red List. A very poorly known species, only recently described. Possibly the rarest carnivore in South America, it occurs in a limited area ofless than 10,000 km? where deforestation is rampant. Since its discovery, only five specimens have been obtained from western Colombia (provinces of Huila and Cauca) and northern Ecuador. The Columbian Weasel is a high priority for field research to learn more aboutits natural history, ecology, and conservation status.
Bibliography. Alberico (1994), Fawcett et al. (1996), IUCN (2008), Izor & de la Torre (1978), Wozencraft (2005).
No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.