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
	Lycalopex culpaeus	Culpeo or Andean fox	Ecuador and Peru to the southern regions of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego
	Lycalopex fulvipes	Darwin's fox	Nahuelbuta National Park (Araucanía Region), the Valdivian Coastal Range (Los Ríos Region) in mainland Chile and Chiloé Island
	Lycalopex griseus	South American gray fox or chilla	Argentina and Chile
	Lycalopex gymnocercus	Pampas fox	northern and central Argentina, Uruguay, eastern Bolivia, Paraguay, and southern Brazil
	Lycalopex sechurae	Sechuran fox	west-central, northwestern Peru, including the Sechura Desert, and southwestern Ecuador
	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