Cavia aperea Erxleben 1777

Cavia aperea Erxleben 1777, Systema Regni Animalis, Vol. 1: 348.

Type Locality: Brazil, Pernambuco.

Vernacular Names: Brazilian Guinea Pig.

Subspecies::

Subspecies Cavia aperea subsp. aperea Erxleben 1777

Subspecies Cavia aperea subsp. guianae Thomas 1901

Subspecies Cavia aperea subsp. hypoleuca Cabrera 1953

Subspecies Cavia aperea subsp. pamparum Thomas 1901

Subspecies Cavia aperea subsp. patzelti Schliemann 1982

Subspecies Cavia aperea subsp. rosida Thomas 1917

Distribution: Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Guianas, Brazil, N Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Includes guianae; see Hückinghaus (1961:58) and Husson (1978:449); but also see Cabrera (1961:578) who placed guianae in porcellus . Includes pamparum according to Massoia and Fornes (1967) and Hückinghaus (1961:57), but Cabrera (1961:577) listed pamparum as a distinct species. Geographic variation in fundamental number has been reported; the karyotype of C. a. aperea has 2n=64 and FN=116 or 128 (George et al., 1972; Maia, 1984) and C. a. pamparum has 2n=64 and FN=128 (Gava et al., 1998).