Paca

Paca
	Lowland paca
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Infraorder:	Hystricognathi
Parvorder:	Caviomorpha
Superfamily:	Cavioidea
Family:	Cuniculidae; Miller & Gidley, 1918
Genus:	Cuniculus; Brisson, 1762
Type species
	Mus paca; Linnaeus, 1766
Species
	Cuniculus paca; Cuniculus taczanowskii; Cuniculus hernandezi (validity questionable)
	Cuniculidae distribution. Cuniculus paca in red, Cuniculus taczanowskii in blue (brighter where range does not overlap C. paca).
Synonyms
	For Cuniculidae: Agoutidae Gray, 1821; Coelogenyidae Gervais, 1849; For Cuniculus: Agouti Lacépède, 1799; Caelogenus Fleming, 1822; Caelogenys Agassiz, 1842; Coelogenus Cuvier, 1807; Coelogenys Illiger, 1811; Mamcoelogenysus Herrera, 1899; Osteopera Harlan, 1825; Paca Fischer, 1814; Stictomys Thomas, 1924;

A paca (from Tupí paka) is part of the genus Cuniculus.

There are four species:

Lowland paca, Cuniculus paca (Agouti paca)
Mountain paca, Cuniculus taczanowskii
Dry zone paca, Cuniculus shakilee
Cuniculus hernandezi (a recent and disputed nomen nudum)

Pacas are found from southern Mexico to northern Argentina. They are a source of meat in many places.

Both species of paca eat mainly fruit. Other foods include roots, seeds, leaves, buds, and flowers. In the wild, pacas are herbivores, meaning they eat only plants. In captivity, they are omnivores, meaning they eat both plants and flesh. Pacas in zoos eat fruits, vegetables, raw meat, lizards, and insects.

References

↑ Woods & Kilpatrick 2005
↑ Miller & Gidley 1918
↑ Brisson 1762
↑ Simpson, George Gaylord (February 1941). "Vernacular Names of South American Mammals". Journal of Mammalogy. 22 (1): 6. doi:10.2307/1374677. JSTOR 1374677.
↑ Castro, López & Becerra 2010
↑ Ramírez–Chaves, Héctor E.; Solari, Sergio (2014). "Sobre la disponibilidad del nombre Cuniculus hernandezi Castro, López y Becerra, 2010 (Rodentia: Cuniculidae)" [On the availability of the name Cuniculus hernandezi Castro, López, and Becerra, 2010 (Rodentia: Cuniculidae)]. Actualidades Biológicas (in Spanish). 36 (100): 59–62. doi:10.17533/udea.acbi.329110. S2CID 128367062.

Sources

Brisson, Mathurin Jacques (1762). Regnum Animale in classes IX distributum, sive synopsis methodica. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
Castro, José J; López, Juan Bautista; Becerra, Francisco (2010). "Una nueva especie de Cuniculus (Rodentia: Cuniculidae) de la Cordillera Central de Colombia". Rev. Asoc. Col. Cienc.(Col.). 22: 122–131. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
Grzimek, Bernhard (2003). Hutchins, Michael; Kleiman, Devra G; Geist, Valerius; et al. (eds.). Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, Vol 16, Mammals V (2nd ed.). Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group. ISBN 0-7876-5362-4.
Miller, G.S. Jr.; Gidley, J.W. (1918). "Synopsis of the supergeneric groups of rodents". Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences. 8: 431–48. doi:10.5962/bhl.part.6490.
Ríos-Uzeda, Boris; Wallace, Robert B; Vargas, Julieta (2004). "La Jayupa de la altura (Cuniculus taczanowskii, Rodentia, Cuniculidae), un nuevo registro de mamífero para la fauna de Bolivia". Mastozoología Neotropical. 11 (1). ISSN 1666-0536. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
Woods, C. A.; Kilpatrick, C. W. (2005). "Infraorder Hystricognathi". In Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 1538–1600. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494. Retrieved 3 March 2013.

Other websites

Gibnuts at Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary

[msw3-1] Woods & Kilpatrick 2005

[2] Miller & Gidley 1918

[3] Brisson 1762

[Simp-4] Simpson, George Gaylord (February 1941). "Vernacular Names of South American Mammals". Journal of Mammalogy. 22 (1): 6. doi:10.2307/1374677. JSTOR 1374677.

[5] Castro, López & Becerra 2010

[6] Ramírez–Chaves, Héctor E.; Solari, Sergio (2014). "Sobre la disponibilidad del nombre Cuniculus hernandezi Castro, López y Becerra, 2010 (Rodentia: Cuniculidae)" [On the availability of the name Cuniculus hernandezi Castro, López, and Becerra, 2010 (Rodentia: Cuniculidae)]. Actualidades Biológicas (in Spanish). 36 (100): 59–62. doi:10.17533/udea.acbi.329110. S2CID 128367062.