South American fox

The South American foxes (Lycalopex), commonly called raposa in Portuguese, or zorro in Spanish, are a genus inhabiting South America. Despite their name, they are not true foxes, but are a unique canid genus more closely related to wolves and jackals than to true foxes; some of them resemble foxes due to convergent evolution. The South American gray fox, Lycalopex griseus, is the most common species, and is known for its large ears and a highly marketable, russet-fringed pelt.

The second-oldest known fossils belonging to the genus were discovered in Chile, and date from 2.0 to 2.5 million years ago, in the mid- to late Pliocene.<ref name=Lucherini2008>Template:Cite journal</ref> The Vorohué Formation of Argentina has provided older fossils, dating to the Uquian to Ensenadan (Late Pliocene).<ref name=FWVorohue>Vorohuen (sic; Vorohué) Formation at Fossilworks.org</ref>

Names

The common English word "zorro" is a loan word from Spanish, with the word originally meaning "fox". Current usage lists Pseudalopex (literally: "false fox") as synonymous with Lycalopex ("wolf fox"), with the latter taking precedence.<ref name=msw3/><ref name=IUCNCulpeo>Template:Cite iucn</ref> In 1895, Allen classified Pseudalopex as a subgenus of Canis, establishing the combination Canis (Pseudalopex), a name still used in the fossil record.<ref name=FWaustralis>Template:BioRef</ref>

Species

Species currently included in this genus include:<ref name=msw3/>

Image	Name	Common name	Distribution
File:Culpeo.jpg	Lycalopex culpaeus	Culpeo or Andean fox	Ecuador and Peru to the southern regions of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego
File:Zorro de Darwin.jpg	Lycalopex fulvipes	Darwin's fox	Nahuelbuta National Park (Araucanía Region), the Valdivian Coastal Range (Los Ríos Region) in mainland Chile and Chiloé Island
File:Chilla in La Rioja.jpg	Lycalopex griseus	South American gray fox or chilla	Argentina and Chile
File:Na estrada?.jpg	Lycalopex gymnocercus	Pampas fox	northern and central Argentina, Uruguay, eastern Bolivia, Paraguay, and southern Brazil
File:Lycalopex sechurae in Peru 2 (cropped).jpg	Lycalopex sechurae	Sechuran fox	west-central, northwestern Peru, including the Sechura Desert, and southwestern Ecuador
File:Lycalopex vetulus in Bacury Lodge, Anhembi 1.jpg	Lycalopex vetulus	Hoary fox	south-central Brazil
	†Canis (Pseudalopex) australis		Vorohué Formation, Uquian-Ensenadan Argentina<ref name=FWVorohue/>

In 1914, Oldfield Thomas established the genus Dusicyon, in which he included these zorros. They were later reclassified to Lycalopex (via Pseudalopex) by Langguth in 1975.<ref name=msw3/>

Phylogeny

The following phylogenetic tree shows the evolutionary relationships between the Lycalopex species, based on molecular analysis of mitochondrial DNA control region sequences.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Template:Clade

Relationship with humans

The zorros are hunted in Argentina for their durable, soft pelts. They are also often labelled 'lamb-killers'.Template:Citation needed

In his diary of his well-known 1952 traveling with the young Che Guevara,<ref>TRAVELLING WITH CHE GUEVARA by Alberto Granado</ref> Alberto Granado mentions talking with seasonal workers employed on vast sheep farms, who told him of a successful campaign by the ranch owners to exterminate the foxes who were preying on lambs. The ranchers offered a reward of one Argentinian peso for the body of a dead male fox and as much as five pesos for a female fox; to impoverished workers in the early 1950s, five pesos were a significant sum. Within a few years, foxes became virtually extinct in a large part of Argentina.Template:Citation needed

The Fuegian dog (Template:Langx), also known as the Yaghan dog, was a domesticated form of the culpeo (Lycalopex culpaeus),<ref name="Petrigh & Fugassa 2013">Template:Cite journal</ref> unlike other domesticated canids which were dogs and silver foxes. This means different canid species have been domesticated multiple times by humans independently.Template:Citation needed

Further reading

• Nowak, Ronald M. (2005). Walker's Carnivores of the World. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press. Template:ISBN