72 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 69 



Genus PECARI Reichenbach. Collared Peccaries 



The collared peccaries are smaller, more grizzled in color, than 

 the white-lipped peccaries of the genus Tayassu. They are also 

 recognizable by the light shoulder stripes forming the so-called 

 " collar." Generic distinction is, however, better shown in the skull : 

 The rostrum is much narrower, more highly arched along the median 

 line above; the maxillae are not laterally expanded over the first 

 molars ; the palate has a distinct ridge extending from the canine to 

 the anterior premolar ; the molar teeth have rather more-developed 

 cingula, and the cusps are less closely connected by intermediate 

 cusplets. 



PECARI ANGULATUS CRUSNIGRUM (Bangs) 



Chiriqui Collared Peccary 



Tayassu crusnigrum Bangs, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., Vol. 39, No. 2, p. 20, 

 April, 1902. Type from Boquete, Chiriqui, Panama (altitude 4,000 feet). 



The collared peccary of western Panama and adjacent portions of 

 Costa Rica is a remarkably dark, richly colored animal with tawny 

 instead of whitish shoulder stripes, or " collar," usual in the group. 



The original description was based on specimens collected by 

 W. W. Brown, Jr. Mr. Bangs described it as a distinct species 

 " because the relationship of the North American forms and the 

 South American T. tajacu [Pecari tajacu] are not as yet clearly 

 understood." 



The exact relationship to South American species still remains 

 to be determined, but examination of specimens from numerous 

 localities indicates that all of the collared peccaries of Middle 

 America may be regarded as subspecies of Pecari angulatus. Speci- 

 mens from Honduras are intermediate in color and in cranial details 

 also indicate intergradation between the present dark form and the 

 pallid subspecies, P. a. yucatanensis, which inhabits the peninsula 

 of Yucatan. 



The range of P. a. crusnigrum is little known. It includes the 

 highlands of the western part of the republic, and lowlands of eastern 

 Costa Rica. In the Canal Zone and eastward it is replaced by the 

 paler form, P. a. bangsi. 



Specimens examined : Boquete, 3. 1 



1 Collection Mus. Comp. Zool. 



