Part II: Species Accounts266
Taxonomy
The name Tayassu pecari was first introduced by Fischer in 1814.
The white-lipped peccary is currently the only species within the
genus Tayassu.
The large geographic distribution of the white-lipped
peccary across Central and South America through a range of
habitats provides a potential opportunity to investigate the level
of genetic diversity and differentiation within the species, as has
been observed in the collared peccary (Gongora et al. 2006).
Thus, further research is needed to obtain a comprehensive
understanding of the genetic diversity at the level of subspecies
and/or species’ distribution. This would also provide critical
background information to identify priorities for conservation
at the genetic level. In addition, comprehensive and fine-scale
assessment of the confluence and potential venue for hybridi-
zation in countries such as Colombia, Brazil, and Peru, where
more than one of the white-lipped peccary subspecies occurs
would assist in this endeavour.Subspecies and Distribution
There has been some contrasting sub-classification (Mayer &
Wetzel 1987; Grubb & Groves 1993). The latter authors propose
five subspecies. These nominated subspecies are: T. p. pecari
(Link, 1795) from French Guiana; T. p. aequatoris (Lönnberg
1921) found in Colombia and Ecuador; T. p. albirostis (Illiger
1815) distributed from Colombia to Argentina; T. p. ringens
(Merriam 1901) found in Mexico to Nicaragua; and T. p. spiradens
(Goldman 1912), which is distributed from Costa Rica through
Colombia (Groves & Grubb 1993; Taber et al. 2011).
Limited chromosome (Giannoni et al. 1981; Benirschke &
Kumamoto 1984) and DNA (Gongora & Moran 2005) studies
have revealed polymorphisms and some variation in sequence
divergence among a few individuals from different geographi-
cal regions. Those subdivisions are yet to be validated through
genetic and morphological research and comprehensive sam-
pling. A cranometric study of white-lipped peccaries that
assessed differentiation between Central and South American
groups demonstrated some morphological differences but
provides little support for geographical differentiation at the
subcontinental level (Groves & Grubb 2011). However, on a
smaller scale, cranial data indicated that white-lipped pec-
cary specimens from the northern and western regions of
Colombia were significantly smaller than specimens from the
central region of this country (Sánchez et al. 2009). A recent
mitochondrial DNA analysis of T. p e c a r i from north-west-
ern South America, using opportunistic sampling, does not
support separation of these specimens from this region into
T. p. pecari, T. p. spiradens and T. p. albirostris subspecies (Ruiz-
Garcia et al. 2015). In addition, they found extremely high levels
of genetic diversity, which is unexpected for this marker. They
also analysed three microsatellite loci showing that there is no
population differentiation for the samples assigned to the three
subspecies from the north-west of South America. However,
these preliminary analyses have some shortcomings, as veri-
fication of results and more DNA sequence and microsatellite
loci and sampling are needed, as acknowledged by the authors(Ruiz-Garcia et al. 2015). A higher number of microsatellite loci
have been demonstrated to provide resolution to assess genetic
structuring in two adjacent white-lipped peccary populations
from the Pantanal Brazil (Biondo et al. 2011).Present Distribution
White-lipped peccary is confined to the Neotropical region,
from south-eastern Mexico in the north, to Central America
and northern and central South America, as far south as Entre
Rios in northern Argentina and Rio Grande do Sul in southern
Brazil (Sowls 1997; Figure 25.1). The species was introduced to
Cuba in 1930 (Mayer & Wetzel 1987), but is no longer found in
the wild there. It is presumed to be extirpated from El Salvador,
and its range has been significantly reduced in Mexico, Central,
and South America in the last 20 years (Leopold 1959; Reyna-
Hurtado et al. 2009, 2010; Altrichter et al. 2011).Densities
White-lipped peccary densities differ according to biome, habitat,
fragmentation, and hunting. Desbiez et al. (2010) documented
the importance of habitat in density estimates finding a density
of 13.7 ind./km^2 in forested areas and 3.0 ind./km^2 in the open
Cerrado. Keuroghlian et al. (2004) and Cullen (1997), both working
in southern Brazil, found densities between 3.9 and 10.2 ind./km^2
in tropical forest fragments. In the Brazilian Pantanal, Desbiez
et al. (2004) found between 7.5 and 9.6 ind./km^2 in two different
locations. Altrichter (2005) estimated white-lipped peccary den-
sities in the Argentine Chaco between 0.33 ind./km^2 in hunted
sites and 1.04 ind./km^2 in non-hunted sites. Reyna-Hurtado and
Tanner (2007) found a density of 0.43 ind./km^2 in the Calakmul
Biosphere Reserve in Mexico.Descriptive Notes
Body measurements: Shoulder height: 40–53 cm (Mayer &
Wetzel 1987). Head and body length: 90–139 cm. Tail length:
10–65 cm. Body mass male and females: 25–40 kg (Table 25.1;
Mayer & Wetzel 1987; Sowls 1997). There is little difference
between male and female white-lipped peccaries, both in size
and general appearance, although the scrotum is visible at
close range (Mayer & Wetzel 1987; Nowak 1991). In captivity,
the maximum recorded lifespan was 13 years and 3 months
(Crandall 1964; Schmidt 1990).
The white-lipped peccary is a medium-sized mammal, and
superficially appears similar to some suids. However, numerous
anatomical digestive structures are unique to peccaries, sug-
gesting that peccaries are evolutionarily more advanced than
Old World Suidae (Sowls 1997). The rostrum is elongated and
terminates in a mobile naked disk, which includes the nostrils.
Peccaries are macrosmatic and have relative small eyes with
poor vision. The ears are erect, highly mobile, and oval in shape.
All extant peccary species also have a unique scent gland that is
located at the mid-dorsal line on the rump.
There are no obvious distinct morphological differ-
ences between genders (Mayer & Wetzel 1987; Sowls 1997;
Keuroghlian & Desbiez 2010). The pelage colour varies with
geographic region, the dorsum is typically dark red–brown to.02712:46:17