Vicugna vicugna (Molina 1782)

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Artiodactyla, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 1, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 637-722 : 647

Vicugna vicugna (Molina 1782)

[Camelus] vicugna Molina 1782 , Sagg. Stor. Nat. Chile: 313.

Type Locality: Chile, "abondano nella parte della Cordigliera spettante alle Provincie de Coquimbo, e di Copiapò" (cordilleras of Coquimbo and Copiapo).

Vernacular Names: Vicugna.

Synonyms: Vicugna elfridae (Krumbiegel 1949) ; Vicugna frontosa (H. Gervais and Ameghino 1880) ; Vicugna gracilis (H. Gervais and Ameghino 1880) ; Vicugna mensalis (Thomas 1917) ; Vicugna minuta (Burmeister 1891) ; Vicugna pristina (Amhegino 1891) ; Vicugna provicugna (Boule 1920) ; Vicugna vicunia (Tschudi 1844) ; Vicugna vicunna (Tiedemann 1804) .

Distribution: NW Argentina, W Bolivia, N Chile, and S Peru.

Conservation: CITES – Appendix I [except for populations of Bolivia and Peru, and parts of the population in Argentina and Chile, which are included in Appendix II]; U.S. ESA – Endangered; IUCN – Lower Risk (cd).

Discussion: Systematics reviewed by Wheeler (1995). Regarded as polytypic ( mensalis a distinct subspecies) by some authors ( Haltenorth, 1963) but systematics here follows Cabrera (1961). Kadwell et al. (2001) suggested that the Alpaca should be assigned to Vicugna . Gentry et al. (1996) had already proposed that majority usage be confirmed by adoption of Vicugna vicugna as the name for the wild taxon of Vicugna on the assumption that the Alpaca is the domesticated descendent and asked the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature to use its plenary powers to rule that the name for this wild species is not invalid by virtue of being antedated by pacos , the name based on the domestic form. A ruling has been made in their favour ( International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, 2003 a).