132 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 75 



ORDER CARNIVORA 



Family Canidae 



Canis latrans 

 Coyote 



Coyotes are found from extreme northern Alaska and northwestern Canada 

 across most of the United States, Mexico, and Central America to western Panama. 

 A single subspecies of coyote, Canis latrans dickeyi, is found in Costa Rica. There 

 is considerable controversy concerning the original distribution of coyotes in the 

 country. It is documented in some of the earliest faunal reports that coyotes were 

 abundant in Guanacaste Province and adjacent Nicaragua at the time of coloniza- 

 tion by the Spanish and that the species is expanding its range in Central America 

 (Monge-N. and Morera 1986, 1987). Vaughan (1983b) suggested that coyotes in 

 Costa Rica originally were restricted to the tropical dry forests, and have rapidly 

 expanded their range in Costa Rica and into Panama with the progress of recent 

 deforestation. Coyotes in Costa Rica are opportunistic: in lowland dry Costa Rica 

 they feed mostly on mammals, reptiles, and to a lesser degree on vegetation, birds, 

 and arthropods (Janzen 1983b), whereas in the highlands the diet is almost ex- 

 clusively mammals and birds (Vaughan and Rodriguez 1986). 



During our 1986 expedition to Parque Nacional Braulio Carrillo, we found 

 coyote scats in a pasture at 2, (XX) m, heard coyotes howling at 2,050 m, and observed 

 their tracks at 2,600 m. There were no previous records of coyotes in the park. 



Family Procyonidae 



Bassaricyon gabbii 

 Olingo, Martilla 



Olingos are found from central Nicaragua to western Colombia and Ecuador. 

 Two subspecies are found in Costa Rica, the nominate race, Bassaricyon gabbii 

 gabbii, in the south and B. g. richardsoni in the north. A second species, B. lasius 

 is known from only the type locality at Estrella de Cartago in Cartago Province. 



Olingos have been observed on a dozen occasions at La Selva. In August 1982 

 and again in July of 1988, single individuals were seen feeding on the fruits of 

 Cecropia. Two individuals were observed together on 8 April 1988. Olingos are 

 frequently misidentified as kinkajous. 



Specimens examined (2)— Puerto Viejo, Rio Sarapiqui, 300 ft [1 male, 

 1 female, UMMZ]. 



