The Guadeloupe raccoon (''Procyon lotor minor'') is a

common raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of , and a body weight of . ...

subspecies

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to the two main islands (

Basse-Terre Island Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the tw ...

and Grande-Terre) of Guadeloupe in the

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles ( es, link=no, Antillas Menores; french: link=no, Petites Antilles; pap, Antias Menor; nl, Kleine Antillen) are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most of them are part of a long, partially volcanic island arc bet ...

Classification

Though thought in the past to be a distinct species, the Guadeloupe raccoon is a subspecies of the

(''Procyon lotor''), according to two studies in 1999 and 2003. The study of its morphological and genetic traits done in 2003 by Kristofer M. Helgen and Don E. Wilson indicated that the Guadeloupe raccoon was introduced by humans just a few centuries ago. This assumption is supported by the fact that the Guadeloupe raccoon seems to be closely related to the

Bahamian raccoon The Bahamian raccoon (''Procyon lotor maynardi''), also called Bahama raccoon or Bahamas raccoon, is a subspecies of the common raccoon endemic on the New Providence Island in the Bahamas. The binomial name, ''maynardi'', comes from Charles John ...

(''Procyon lotor maynardi''), which is

New Providence Island New Providence is the most populous island in the Bahamas, containing more than 70% of the total population. It is the location of the national capital city of Nassau, whose boundaries are coincident with the island; it had a population of 24 ...

in the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...

, an archipelago nearly 2,000 km (1,243 mi) away, and that evidence exists of former raccoon populations on

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

, Hispaniola, and

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

. Therefore, the Guadeloupe raccoon is listed to be conspecific with the Bahaman raccoon in the third edition of

Mammal Species of the World ''Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference'' is a standard reference work in mammalogy giving descriptions and bibliographic data for the known species of mammals. It is now in its third edition, published in late 2005, ...

and its former scientific name ''Procyon (lotor) minor'' is listed as a synonym for ''Procyon lotor maynardi.'' According to Pons’ haplotype comparisons done by his study, the genetic distance between the ''lotor'' subspecies and ''P. l. minor'' was shorter than between ''P. l. hirtus'', ''pallidus'' and ''lotor''. Raccoons of Arizona are the most divergent, as they are from separate branches, whereas Guadeloupe raccoons are most similar to raccoons from Virginia and Maryland.

Description

Compared to an average sized raccoon, the Guadeloupe raccoon is small with a delicate skull, making it an example of

insular dwarfism Insular dwarfism, a form of phyletic dwarfism, is the process and condition of large animals evolving or having a reduced body size when their population's range is limited to a small environment, primarily islands. This natural process is disti ...

. The coat is dark gray, with a slight ocher tint on the neck and shoulders. On the underparts, only a few

guard hair Guard hair or overhair is the outer layer of hair of most mammals, which overlay the fur. Guard hairs are long and coarse and protect the rest of the pelage (fur) from abrasion and frequently from moisture. They are visible on the surface of the fu ...

s cover the light brown ground hairs.

Conservation

In 1996, the Guadeloupe raccoon was classified as

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 in ...

by the IUCN because its population number of less than 2,500 mature individuals has continued to decline. Considering its small range, the Guadeloupe raccoon was most likely never numerous, just as the four other

island raccoon The term island raccoons is used as a generic term for four endangered and one (or two) extinct subspecies or species of raccoon (''Procyon'') endemic on small Mexican and Caribbean islands, such as Cozumel and Guadeloupe. Other subspecies of racc ...

s: the (

Cozumel raccoon The Cozumel raccoon (''Procyon pygmaeus''), is a critically endangered species of island raccoon endemic on Cozumel Island off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. It is also called the pygmy raccoon, dwarf raccoon, Cozumel Island racco ...

Tres Marias raccoon The Tres Marias raccoon (''Procyon lotor insularis'') is a subspecies of the common raccoon endemic on the two main islands of the Islas Marías, an archipelago off the western coast of the Mexican state of Nayarit. Although sometimes considere ...

and the extinct Barbados raccoon). The Guadeloupe raccoon suffers from the destruction of its habitat, mangrove forests and the rainforest, on Guadeloupe. Furthermore, it is threatened by the reported introduction of the crab-eating raccoon. The Guadeloupe raccoon has been chosen as emblematic species for the Guadeloupe National Park, but it may face

extinction Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

without additional

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...

efforts. On the other hand, Helgen and Wilson are of the opinion that the Guadeloupe raccoon itself could be considered to be an invasive species which poses a threat to the insular

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1028475 Mammals of Guadeloupe Endemic fauna of Guadeloupe Mammals of the Caribbean Procyonidae fr:Procyon minor