The land mammals of Uruguay

Abstract

The object of this paper is to bring together in workable reference form all the known records of mammals from Uruguay and to report on the collection made by the Captain Marshall Field Expedition during its four month's stay in Uruguay in 1926 and 1927. No complete zoological survey has ever been made in Uruguay. The Captain Marshall Field Expedition intended to make one but was able to cover only the southern half of the country. All work done previously has been mainly local. The first record of any mammal from Uruguay dates back to the capture of a bat (Lasiurus borealis bonariensis) by one of the officers of the "Coquille" in November, 1822. The first mammal collector to work there was H. Sello who collected near Maldonado in December, 1826 and January, 1827. His work resulted in the discovery of three new species which were described by Lichtenstein. Five years later, during the voyage of the "Beagle", Charles Darwin spent some time about Maldonado and Montevideo, and his collect- ing resulted in the discovery of a number of new species of mammals.