Confirmation of the presence of Dasyprocta azarae in the Paraguayan Chaco

Abstract

Azara’s Agouti (Dasyprocta azarae) was included within the mastofauna of Paraguay’s Chaco until 2016. Later literature exclude it from the region, since no published records include a concrete evidence like museum specimens, DNA sequences or photos. The objective of this note is to provide evidence of the distribution of D. azarae in the Paraguayan Chaco to help understand its distribution in Paraguay. The distribution
of D. azarae was re-evaluated by a review of literature, museum specimens, and photograph analysis from the Zoological Collection of the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences (ZCENS) to update the species’ geographic range. The photographs were captured via camera trapping methods. We provide new records of Azara’s Agouti at three locations, two of them located in the transition zone between the Dry Chaco and
Pantanal ecoregions, and one in the Dry Chaco ecoregion of the Paraguayan Chaco. Recent literature also confirms the presence of the species in the Humid Chaco ecoregion. Along with other recently published records, we confirm the presence of the species in three ecoregions of the Paraguayan Chaco. With these documented records, its distribution is expanded to more than 270 km west into the region.