Presencia de Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris (Hydrochoeridae, Rodentia, Mammalia) en la cuenca del río Carcarañá, Santa Fe, Argentina: Comentarios acerca de su conservación y biogeografía en Argentina

Abstract

Capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) is the world largest rodent and a typical mammal of the phytogeographical provinces of Pampa and Espinal, inhabiting the eastern sector of the same. These regions have been categorized by the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) as "critical/ endangered threatened" and are assigned the highest priority level of conservation as a result of habitat destruction, overexploitation, pollution and introduction of exotic species. The capybara has a marked preference for environments with permanent water where the marsh vegetation provides food and shelter. Thus, both water bodies as associated vegetation is critical to the prevalence of populations of capybaras in a given environment. In Santa Fe province, records are not very abundant, registering until now about 33 points based on collected and observed specimens, most located in the center and north of the province. The aim of this contribution is to present new records of capybara in Carcarañá river basin (south of Santa Fe province), and its association with some climatic-environmental variables, and evaluate the distribution of this species. Finally, we discussed the possible expansion or migration of this species to the west of Santa Fe and Buenos Aires provinces.