Abstract

MEDINA, César E; ZEBALLOS, Horacio  and  LOPEZ, Evaristo. Diversity of mammals in the mountain forest of Kcosñipata valley (Cusco, Peru). Mastozool. neotrop. [online]. 2012, vol.19, n.1, pp.85-104. ISSN 0327-9383.

Our study was designed to provide information about the diversity of mammals that inhabit in the Wayqecha Research Center and the Mountain Forest of the Manu National Park. For this, we made assessments in four sites of Kcosñipata valley during June and July of 2007, in an altitudinal gradient between 1250 to 3600 m. For registration of mammals we used capture techniques (mist nets, snap traps, pitfall traps) and detection techniques, direct and indirect (long walk, tracks, interviews). Capture's effort was 3520 trap-nights and 397 mist net-nights. We recorded 32 species of mammals for Wayqecha Research Center and a total of 62 for Kcosñipata Valley: 6 of them are new records for the valley, 28 expanded their known altitudinal ranges, 10 are under some threat category in national and international legislation, 12 are under pressure from International Trade, 7 are endemic to mountain forests and 3 are endemic to Peru. The most diverse group was the rodents, while the bat Sturnira erythromos and the rodent Nephelomys levipes were most abundant in the Kcosñipata valley. Patterns of altitudinal distribution observed for all groups of mammals and bats showed the same variation that the Stevens´s rule, however for the group of marsupials and rodents we observed the tendency indicated for the model "mid-domain effect".

Keywords : Altitudinal distribution; Richness of species; Wayqecha Research Center.