Saimiri sciureus (Linnaeus)

VOSS, ROBERT S., LUNDE, DARRIN P. & SIMMONS, NANCY B., 2001, The Mammals Of Paracou, French Guiana: A Neotropical Lowland Rainforest Fauna Part 2. Nonvolant Species, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2001 (263), pp. 1-236 : 69

Saimiri sciureus (Linnaeus)

Squirrel monkeys have apparently been sighted only once at Paracou, when P. Petronelli (personal commun., 1993) encountered a group of 10–12 individuals on the edge of a small patch of savanna vegetation in the early 1980s. This species is probably a local vagrant that seldom strays far from the tangled growth at the forested margins of nearby savannas and rivers.

CARNIVORA

Ten species of carnivores are definitely known to occur at Paracou, and it is doubtful that any others occur in our study area except as rare vagrants (see appendix 1). Because all rainforest carnivores can be confidently identified by external characters (Emmons, 1990, 1997), and because many are uncommon and/or elusive, most of the information reported below was obtained by interviewing local forestry personnel.

Speothos venaticus (Lund)

We did not encounter bush dogs during our 1991–1994 fieldwork at Paracou, but P. Petronelli (personal commun., 1993) told us he had seen them twice in previous years: once as a group of four individuals, and another time as a group of three. A visiting photographer also saw a pack of seven bush dogs chase a paca across a road through the forest near our camp. All of these sightings were diurnal.

Herpailurus yaguarondi (Lacépède)

We did not see jaguarundis at Paracou, but P. Petronelli (personal commun., 1993) reported three sightings, all of solitary individuals on the ground in the daytime: one was crossing a road, one was near a stream in primary forest, and another was in secondary growth near the edge of a small patch of savanna vegetation.

Leopardus pardalis (Linnaeus) Although ocelots are probably not uncommon at Paracou, they are rarely seen. We saw none, but local hunters have killed at least three in the last decade, one of which had the distinctively banded quills of Coendou prehensilis embedded in its neck and shoulders (P. Petronelli, personal commun., 1993).

Leopardus wiedii (Schinz)

Small spotted cats are often seen at night by local forestry workers (P. Petronelli, personal commun., 1993), and we recorded several fleeting encounters in our fieldnotes, but the identification of such observations is problematic. We have only two definite records of margays from our study area. (1) In 1993 we examined and measured an adult female, shot by a local hunter, that measured 563 Χ 427 Χ 124 Χ 54 mm and weighed 3.4 kg; the fur of the nape of the neck was reversed on this specimen, which likewise corresponded in other external characters to the descriptions provided by Pocock ( 1941), Emmons ( 1990, 1997), and Oliveira (1998). (2) On 19 September 1994, L. H. Emmons observed an emaciated male at a distance of only 6 m from 19:20 to 19:35 hours; the animal was encountered near a stream in pri­ mary forest, and half of its face was bristling with the large white quills of Coendou prehensilis .