Chinchilla Bennett 1829

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Rodentia - Family Chinchillidae, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 2, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 1550-1552 : 1550

Chinchilla Bennett 1829

Chinchilla Bennett 1829 , Gard. Menag. Zool. Soc., 1: 1.

Type Species: Chinchilla lanigera Bennett 1829

Synonyms: Eriomys Lichtenstein 1829 .

Species and subspecies: 2 species with 2 subspecies:

Species Chinchilla chinchilla Lichtenstein 1829

Subspecies Chinchilla chinchilla subsp. chinchilla Lichtenstein 1829

Subspecies Chinchilla chinchilla subsp. boliviana Brass 1911

Species Chinchilla lanigera Bennett 1829

Discussion: Osgood (1941) critically reviewed the early descriptions of chinchillas and suggested that Molina’s (1782) Mus laniger was a composite based on no known specimens. Bennett (1829) uses Chinchilla lanigera , derived from Molina’s Mus laniger , without stating that the animal described is the same as that described by Molina (1782). Geographic variation in this taxon is poorly understood making it difficult to determine the number of valid species. Osgood (1943) recognized a single species, Cabrera (1961) and Woods (1993) recognized two species, and Bidlingmaier (1937) recognized three species.