| Lycalopex[1] | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Canidae |
| Tribe: | Canini |
| Subtribe: | Cerdocyonina |
| Genus: | Lycalopex Burmeister 1854 |
| Type species | |
| Canis magellanicus[3] | |
| Species | |
 | |
| Range of the six living zorro species | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
TheSouth American foxes (Lycalopex), commonly calledraposa inPortuguese, orzorro inSpanish, are agenus inhabitingSouth America. Despite their name, they are nottrue foxes, but are a unique canid genus more closely related to wolves and jackals than to true foxes; some of them resemble foxes due toconvergent evolution. TheSouth American gray fox,Lycalopex griseus, is the most common species, and is known for its large ears and a highly marketable, russet-fringedpelt.
The second-oldest known fossils belonging to the genus were discovered inChile, and date from 2.0 to 2.5 million years ago, in the mid- to latePliocene.[4] TheVorohué Formation of Argentina has provided older fossils, dating to theUquian toEnsenadan (Late Pliocene).[5]
The common English word "zorro" is a loan word from Spanish, with the word originally meaning "fox". Current usage listsPseudalopex (literally: "false fox") as synonymous withLycalopex ("wolf fox"), with the latter taking precedence.[1][6] In 1895, Allen classifiedPseudalopex as asubgenus ofCanis, establishing the combinationCanis (Pseudalopex), a name still used in the fossil record.[2]
Species currently included in this genus include:[1]
| Image | Name | Common name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Lycalopex culpaeus | Culpeo or Andean fox | Ecuador and Peru to the southern regions of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego |
 | Lycalopex fulvipes | Darwin's fox | Nahuelbuta National Park (Araucanía Region), theValdivian Coastal Range (Los Ríos Region) in mainland Chile andChiloé Island |
 | Lycalopex griseus | South American gray fox or chilla | Argentina and Chile |
 | Lycalopex gymnocercus | Pampas fox | northern and central Argentina, Uruguay, eastern Bolivia, Paraguay, and southern Brazil |
.jpg) | Lycalopex sechurae | Sechuran fox | west-central, northwestern Peru, including theSechura Desert, and southwestern Ecuador |
 | Lycalopex vetulus | Hoary fox | south-central Brazil |
| †Canis (Pseudalopex) australis | Vorohué Formation,Uquian-Ensenadan Argentina[5] |
In 1914, Oldfield Thomas established the genusDusicyon, in which he included these zorros. They were later reclassified toLycalopex (viaPseudalopex) by Langguth in 1975.[1]
The following phylogenetic tree shows the evolutionary relationships between theLycalopex species, based on molecular analysis of mitochondrial DNA control region sequences.[7]
| Lycalopex |
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The zorros are hunted inArgentina for their durable, soft pelts. They are also often labelled 'lamb-killers'.[citation needed]
In his diary of his well-known 1952 traveling with the youngChe Guevara,[8]Alberto Granado mentions talking with seasonal workers employed on vast sheep farms, who told him of a successful campaign by the ranch owners to exterminate the foxes who were preying on lambs. The ranchers offered a reward of oneArgentinian peso for the body of a dead male fox and as much as five pesos for a female fox; to impoverished workers in the early 1950s, five pesos were a significant sum. Within a few years, foxes became virtually extinct in a large part of Argentina.[citation needed]
TheFuegian dog (Spanish:perro yagán, perro fueguino), also known as theYaghan dog, was a domesticated form of theculpeo (Lycalopex culpaeus),[9] unlike other domesticated canids which were dogs and silver foxes. This means different canid species have been domesticated multiple times by humans independently.[citation needed]
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