Chacoan mara

Chacoan mara; Temporal range: Pleistocene–recent
Conservation status
	; Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Caviidae
Genus:	Dolichotis
Species:	D. salinicola
Binomial name
	Dolichotis salinicola; Burmeister, 1876
	Distribution of the Chacoan mara in green

The Chacoan mara (Dolichotis salinicola) is a relatively large South American rodent of the cavy family.[2] They are a close relative of the better known Patagonian mara.

Habitat

The Chacoan mara lives in the South American Chaco, the dry thorny forests and grasslands of Argentina, Paraguay, and Bolivia. Maras dig a burrow to sleep in at night.

Food and diet

The Chacoan mara eat grasses and other herbage. They will eat nearly any available vegetation.

Social structure

Chacoan maras live in small groups of up to four animals.

Scientific classification and relatives

The Chacoan mara is from the family Caviidae, which includes cavies, such as their larger relative the capybara, and guinea pigs. Chacoan maras are closely related to the other member of the genus Dolichotis, the Patagonian mara. Despite the Chaocan cavy’s close resemblance and coexistence to the Patagonian Mara, they have a broader niche to allow coexistence with its relative.[3] This flexibility is reflected by its subfamily’s high diversity,[4] recorded as early as the late Miocene epoch.[5] Maras are the fourth largest rodent in the world after the capybaras, beavers and porcupines . Though the mara may look like a rabbit, the rabbit is not actually a rodent and therefore not as closely related to the mara as one might expect.

References

Dunnum, J.; Vargas, J.; Bernal, N.; Pardinas, U.; Ojeda, R. (2008). "Dolichotis salinicola". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2008. Retrieved 22 May 2015.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)old-form url
Woods, C.A.; Kilpatrick, C.W. (2005). "Infraorder Hystricognathi". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 1555. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
Rodriguez, D. (2010). "Niche partitioning and coexistence between two mammalian herbivores in the Dry Chaco of Argentina". Acta Oecologica. 36 (6): 611–616.
Madozzo-Jaén, M (2019). "Systematic and phylogeny of Prodolichotis prisca (Caviidae, Dolichotinae) from the Northwest of Argentina (late Miocene–early Pliocene): Advances in the knowledge of the evolutionary history of maras". Comptes Rendus. 18 (1): 33–50.
Quintana, C (2005). "The caviomorph rodents from the San Andrés Formation, east-central Argentina, and global Late Pliocene climatic change". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 219 (3–4): 303–320.

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[iucn-1] Dunnum, J.; Vargas, J.; Bernal, N.; Pardinas, U.; Ojeda, R. (2008). "Dolichotis salinicola". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2008. Retrieved 22 May 2015.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)old-form url

[MSW3-2] Woods, C.A.; Kilpatrick, C.W. (2005). "Infraorder Hystricognathi". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 1555. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.

[3] Rodriguez, D. (2010). "Niche partitioning and coexistence between two mammalian herbivores in the Dry Chaco of Argentina". Acta Oecologica. 36 (6): 611–616.

[4] Madozzo-Jaén, M (2019). "Systematic and phylogeny of Prodolichotis prisca (Caviidae, Dolichotinae) from the Northwest of Argentina (late Miocene–early Pliocene): Advances in the knowledge of the evolutionary history of maras". Comptes Rendus. 18 (1): 33–50.

[5] Quintana, C (2005). "The caviomorph rodents from the San Andrés Formation, east-central Argentina, and global Late Pliocene climatic change". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 219 (3–4): 303–320.