Proceedings of the fifth mountain lion workshop: 27

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46 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FIFTH MOUNTAIN LION WORKSHOP Marcelo Mazzolli. Projecto Puma, Parque Ecológico do Córrego Grande, R. Jo~o Pinho Duarte Silva, 535, 88037-000 Florianópolis - SC - Brasil C.B. Ryan. Projecto Puma, Parque Ecológico do Córrego Grande, R. Jo~o Pinho Duarte Silva, 535, 88037-000 Florianópolis - SC - Brasil Key words: Brazil, Mountain Lion, Puma concolor, Subspecies Abstract The identity of mountain lion subspecies in Brazil is yet to be studied. The most controversial subspecies is Puma concolor concolor which inhabits semi-arid regions as well as Atlantic forests and savannas. The range of P.c. concolor has changed three times since the first description. The range now extends form northeast Brazil south through Uruguay to northeastern Argentina and Paraguay. Up till now the subspecies description of P.c. concolor has been based on three skulls: one male from the northeastern Brazil; and a male and female form southeastern Brazil. The purpose of this paper is to identify variations within the range of P. concolor and provide information for further studies on the taxonomy of Brazilian mountain lions. Such information may be valuable to define management plans for the species at the subspecific level. Twenty-nine skulls (15 male and 14 female) from two regions within the range of P.c. concolor) were compared. Differences are reported on measurements of both males and females. Brazil is well known for its extensively forested amazon and the ecologically rich swamp regions of the Pantanal. Protected by extensive forest cover, mountain lions and other species that require large home ranges can still sustain healthy populations in those areas. Puma c. concolor occupies a more fragmented environment as a result of intensive land development by man, which includes northeast, southeast and south Brazil, northeast Argentina, eastern Paraguay and Uruguay. In the 2 southernmost states of Brazil, mountain lions find refuge mainly on mountains above 800 m (Ihering 1949, Mazzolli 1993). Uncontrolled poaching, absence of effective biological reserves and a lack of population counts and monitoring raise questions about the subspecies' current status. Because the P.c. concolor range is so extensive and diversified, and so few descriptions are available, one may argue the presence of only one geographical race. In order to augment the available information on P.c. concolor, several specimens are described by means of cranial measurements. Populations from the south and southeast Brazilian range of P.c. concolor are statistically compared. These data are compared with data from the type locality (northeast Brazil), and specimens from northeast Argentina and Uruguay. The evolutionary importance of subspecies and the validity of applying subspecific names based on subtle differences between populations are discussed (e.g., Cracraft 1989). We consider that biodiversity must be preserved at all taxonomic levels, and we agree with Chambers and Bayless (1983) that subspecies often are the best available description of variability within a species. METHODS Skull measurements (Fig. 1) of 15 adult male and 14 adult female mountain lions from south and southeastern Brazil (Fig. 2) were collected using a 300mm sliding caliper. The measurements were those used by Ximenez (1973), with greatest length added by the author. T-tests were performed using Systat 5.0 statistical package for Macintosh. Males and females were analyzed separately because of their strong sexual dimorphism (Mazzolli 1992). The t-test assumes the equality of variances and normal distribution of the samples (Zar 1974). The equality of variances for each group were compared using the formula F=s1/s2 (Zar 1974), and normality was verified by measuring skewness. RESULTS The measurements of all collected data are in Table 1. Results of the t-test that account for discriminating the groups are shown in Table 2, Table 3 and Fig. 3. The skull measurements with the most discriminating power for males are postorbital length (P=0.00), interorbital and zygomatic breadth (P=0.02), length of mandible (P=0.05), cranium width (P=0.07), total length (P=0.08), and for female discrimination are breadth of rostrum (P=0.01), basal length (P=0.02), total length, condilobasal length and length of mandible (P=0.05), and length of palate (P=0.08). Southern (S) mountain lions have larger skull dimensions (males wider and females longer) than mountain lions from the Southeast (SE) group. Results with probabilities slightly lower than 95% were included because of the small sample size may change the probabilities.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE FIFTH MOUNTAIN LION WORKSHOP 47 Figure 1. Skull of an adult felid showing the measurements taken. Drawing from Ximenez (1973). 1- Greatest length (G.T): length from the prosthion to inion. 2- Basal length (B.L.): distance from the prosthion to basion. 3- Condylobasal length (C.L.): distance from prosthion to condilion. 4- Length of palate (L.P.): distance from the prosthion to palathion. 5- Nasal length (N.L.): diagonal) greatest distance from anterior to posterior ends of nasal. 6- Zygomatic breadth (Z.B.): greatest distance between outer borders of zygomata. 7- Breadth of rostrum (B.R.): greatest distance between outer alveolar border of the superior canines. 8- Interorbital breadth (I.B.): least distance between orbits. 9- Postorbital breadth (P.B.): least cranium breadth at postorbital processes. 10- Cranium width (C.W.): greatest distance between outer borders of cranium. 11- Superior tooth row, alveolar distance (S.T.R.): distance from most posterior end of superior canine at alveolar border to most posterior end of Pm4 at alveolar border. 12- Inferior tooth row (I.T.R.): distance from most posterior end of inferior canine at alveolar border to most posterior end of inferior canine at alveolar border. 13- Upper carnassial, crown length (U.C.): greatest anterior-posterior diameter of crown. 14- Length of mandible (L.M.): distance between most anterior point of mandible to most posterior point of articular condyle. DISCUSSION Nelson and Goldman (1929) assigned Sâo Paulo Figure 2. Political division of Brazil. Shows the origin and number of samples from south and southeast Brazil. (SP), in southeast Brazil, as type locality of Felis concolor (Felis concolor Linnaeus). Goldman (1946) changed the type locality to French Guiana, and Cabrera (1957) accepted it. Hershkovitz (1949) assigned F.c. greeni (Nelson and Goldman, 1931) from Rio Grande do Norte, northeast Brazil, as a topo type of F.c. concolor based on the fact that Linnaeus (1771) had given Brazil as type locality of F. concolor, based on the assumption that the skull from Piracicaba (SP) used to describe F.c. capricornensis was abnormal (Fig. 4, 5, and 6). Goldman (1946) used one male skull to describe the subspecies F.c. greeni, and one male and one female to describe F.c. capricornensis. Herskovits (1949) based his assumptions on literature to make the synonyms thus leaving the description of F.c. concolor with 3 samples. In this study we were able to gather information from the south (S) and southeast (SE) Brazilian range of P.c. concolor. Instead of grouping them as a single subspecies, we performed a comparison between the two groups. Data for other sources are summarized in Tables 4 and 5. The only data we have on P.c. concolor from the type locality (Northeast Brazil) is Nelson and Goldman's (1931) F.c. greeni specimen. Figure 3 compares mountain lion populations from S and SE Brazil, and includes some of Goldman's (1946) measurements of F.c. greeni and F.c. capricornensis. F.c. Greeni falls outside the range of both the
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