New genetic information and geographic distribution of charismatic carnivores: the olingos (Procyonidae: Bassaricyon ) in Colombia

Integrative taxonomic reviews of highly charismatic carnivores such as the neotropical olingos ( Bassaricyon ) is limited by the scarcity of specimens for morphological and associated material, such as fresh tissues for molecular analyses. Although Colombia harbors three olingo species ( Bassaricyon alleni , B. medius , and B. neblina ), only sequences of a single individual are available. Here, we present records that fill gaps in areas with sampling bias and extend the information on the current and potential distribution of olingos from Colombia. Furthermore, we generated new cytochrome-b and Cholinergic Receptor Nicotinic Alpha Polypeptide 1 precursor sequences from three additional specimens from Colombia. B. medius shows the widest distribution from northern Panama, crossing the Pacific Forest, the Magdalena basin, the Caribbean, and the Andean slopes in Colombia to Tumbes in Peru. For B. neblina , the potential distribution extends over the northern Andes, including the Occidental and the Central cordilleras of Colombia, and the Occidental and Oriental Andes of Ecuador. Despite B. alleni has the largest potential distribution in Colombia, we only found seven records from the montane forests of the Cordillera Oriental. The area of occupancy (AOO) and the extent of occurrence (EOO) in Colombia is 84 km 2 and 141,970 km 2 for B. medius, 116 km 2 and 126,530 km 2 for B. neblina. Although B. alleni has a larger potential distribution, there is a scarcity of records for this species in Colombia, and its AOO is only 28 km 2 . This information could be useful to assess research priorities and threats for olingos in Colombia.