Report of coloration anomalies in mammals from Panama

Abstract

Coloration anomalies are widespread across the animal kingdom; however, they pass underreported for some taxa or are extremely rare, like in the case of mammals. Three of those anomalies are albinism, leucism, and erythrism, each of which generates atypical colorations in white with white spots and reddish-brown, respectively. Here, we report five cases of coloration anomalies in mammals from Panama: 1) albinism in the Derby’s woolly opossum (Caluromys derbianus Waterhouse, 1841), the lowland Paca (Cuniculus paca Linnaeus, 1766), and the variegated squirrel (Echinosciurus variegatoides Ogilby, 1839). 2) leucism in the Central American agouti (Dasyprocta punctata J. E. Gray, 1842), and 3) erythrism in the northern Tamandua (Tamandua mexicana Saussure, 1860). We discuss some implications of these observations and the importance of gathering this type of data for developing more complex studies in the future.