Pudu mephistopheles (de Winton)

VOSS, ROBERT S., 2003, A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental, American Museum Novitates 3421, pp. 1-48 : 20

Pudu mephistopheles (de Winton)

SPECIMENS COLLECTED: None.

OTHER MATERIAL: The holotype of the northern pudu ( BMNH 96.1.28.5) , which I have not examined, was collected in the ‘‘ Paramo of Papallacta’ ’ by native collectors in the employ of Ludovic Söderström, the Swedish consul in Quito ( de Winton, 1896). Another Söderström specimen (which I did examine) is NHRS A58 /4636, a dried skin with the skull inside labeled ‘‘Papallacta 12000 ft’’, collected in 1908 and originally reported by Lönnberg (1913) .

TAXONOMY: The genus Pudu was revised by Hershkovitz (1982), who reviewed the scant literature on these rare deer and summarized information about the diagnostic characters, geographic distribution, and natural history of P. mephistopheles .

REMARKS: Pudus are avidly hunted everywhere they occur and appear to be uncommon or hard to observe throughout their dwindling geographic range. I did not see any in the course of my fieldwork near Papallacata, but Black (1982) reported recent sightings of spoor in the páramos surrounding Cerro Antisana.