The eastern mountain coati or eastern dwarf coati (''Nasuella meridensis'') is a small procyonid found in

cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF), is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud c ...

and

páramo Páramo () can refer to a variety of alpine tundra ecosystems located in the Andes Mountain Range, South America. Some ecologists describe the páramo broadly as "all high, tropical, montane vegetation above the continuous timberline". A narrower ...

at elevations of in the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

of western

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. Until 2009, it was included as a

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of the

western mountain coati The western mountain coati or western dwarf coati (''Nasuella olivacea'') is a small Procyonidae, procyonid, found in cloud forest and páramo at altitudes of in the Andes of Colombia and Ecuador.Helgen, K. M., R. Kays, L. E. Helgen, M. T. N. T ...

(''Nasuella olivacea''), but the eastern mountain coati is overall smaller, somewhat shorter-tailed on average, has markedly smaller teeth, a paler

olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ...

-brown pelage, and usually a dark mid-dorsal stripe on the back versus more

rufescent Rufous () is a color that may be described as reddish-brown or brownish-red, as of rust or oxidised iron. The first recorded use of ''rufous'' as a color name in English was in 1782. However, the color is also recorded earlier in 1527 as a dia ...

or blackish, and usually without a dark mid-dorsal stripe in the western mountain coati. When the two were combined, they were classified as

Data Deficient A data deficient (DD) species is one which has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as offering insufficient information for a proper assessment of conservation status to be made. This does not necessaril ...

on the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

but following the split the eastern mountain coati is considered

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

. A genetic analysis revealed that it should be regarded as a synonym of ''N. olivacea''. The physical differences between the ''N. meridensis'' and ''N. olivacae'' is suggested to be of allopatric nature and is attributed to a geographical gap at the Columbian-Venezuelan border.›

References

Procyonidae Carnivorans of South America Mammals of the Andes Mammals of Venezuela Endemic fauna of Venezuela Páramo fauna Coati, Western mountain Mammals described in 1901 Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas {{carnivora-stub