Kingdom Animalia Order Carnivora Genus Bassaricyon Higher classification Bassaricyon | Phylum Chordata Family Procyonidae Scientific name Bassaricyon alleni Rank Species | |
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Similar Northern olingo, Leighton's linsang, Bourlon's genet, Blackâfooted mongoose, King genet | ||
The eastern lowland olingo (Bassaricyon alleni) is a species of olingo from South America, where it is known from the lowlands east of the Andes in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru and Venezuela. It is the only olingo species found east of the Andes. The Latin species name honors Joel Asaph Allen, the American zoologist who first described the genus Bassaricyon.
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Description
The eastern lowland olingo is smaller than the northern olingo, but larger than the recently described olinguito ("little olingo"), the most montane member of the genus. It is larger than the western lowland olingo subspecies B. medius medius from west of the Andes, but about the same size as the B. m. orinomus subspecies from eastern Panama. The pelage is slightly darker than the western species.
It has a head-body length of 30 to 45 centimetres (12 to 18 in), with a tail length of 40 to 53 centimetres (16 to 21 in). It weighs 1.1 to 1.5 kilograms (2.4 to 3.3 lb).
Taxonomy
The closest relative of the eastern lowland olingo is the western lowland species, B. medius, from which it diverged about 1.3 million years ago.