{{Short description|Genus of carnivores}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Bushy tailed olingo.jpg | image_caption = Northern olingo (''Bassaricyon gabbii'') | taxon = Bassaricyon | authority = Allen, 1876 | type_species = ''Bassaricyon gabbii'' | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = *''Bassaricyon alleni'' *''Bassaricyon gabbii'' *''Bassaricyon medius'' *''Bassaricyon neblina'' }}

The genus '''''Bassaricyon''''' consists of small Neotropical procyonids, popularly known as '''olingos''' ({{IPAc-en|ɒ|ˈ|l|ɪ|ŋ|ɡ|oʊ|z}}), relatives of the raccoon. They are native to the rainforests of Central and South America from Nicaragua to Peru.<ref name = MSW3>{{MSW3 Carnivora | id = 14001596 | pages = }}</ref> They are arboreal and nocturnal, and live at elevations from sea level to {{convert|2750|m|abbr=on}}.<ref name=ZooKeys>{{cite journal |title=Taxonomic revision of the olingos (''Bassaricyon''), with description of a new species, the Olinguito |last1=Helgen |first1=K. M. |last2=Pinto |first2=M. |last3=Kays |first3=R. |last4=Helgen |first4=L. |last5=Tsuchiya |first5=M. |last6=Quinn |first6=A. |last7=Wilson |first7=D. |last8=Maldonado |first8=J.|journal= ZooKeys|issue= 324|date= 2013-08-15|pages= 1–83|doi= 10.3897/zookeys.324.5827 |pmid=24003317 |pmc=3760134|doi-access=free }}</ref> Olingos closely resemble another procyonid, the kinkajou, in morphology and habits; though they lack prehensile tails and extrudable tongues, have more extended muzzles, and possess anal scent glands. However, the two genera are not sisters.<ref name="Koepfli2007" /> They also resemble galagos and certain lemurs.

== Species == There is disagreement on the number of species in this genus, with some taxonomists splitting the populations into as many as five species (adding ''B. pauli'' to the list below), two species (dropping ''B. medius'' and ''B. neblina''), or just a single species (''B. gabbi'').<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/en|title=The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species|website=IUCN Red List of Threatened Species|access-date=2018-10-27}}</ref> Until recently, only the northern olingo (''B. gabbii'') was particularly well-known, and it was usually confusingly referred to simply as an olingo. Olingos are quite rare in zoos and are often misidentified as kinkajous.

A previously unrecognized olingo, similar to but distinct from ''B. alleni'', was discovered in 2006 by Kristofer Helgen at Las Maquinas in the Andes of Ecuador.<ref>Handbook of the Mammals of the World (2009). {{ISBN|978-84-96553-49-1}}</ref> He named this species ''B. neblina'' or olinguito and presented his findings on August 15, 2013.<ref name="Stromberg2013">{{cite web|last=Stromberg|first=Joseph|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/For-the-First-Time-in-35-Years-A-New-Carnivorous-Mammal-Species-is-Discovered-in-the-Western-Hemisphere--219762981.html|title=For the First Time in 35 Years, A New Carnivorous Mammal Species is Discovered in the American Continents|work=Smithsonian Magazine|date=August 15, 2013|access-date=August 15, 2013|archive-date=August 30, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130830075503/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/For-the-First-Time-in-35-Years-A-New-Carnivorous-Mammal-Species-is-Discovered-in-the-Western-Hemisphere--219762981.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

With data derived from anatomy, morphometrics, nuclear and mitochondrial DNA, field observations, and geographic range modeling, Helgen and coworkers demonstrated that four olingo species can be recognized:<ref name=ZooKeys/>

{{Species table |genus=Bassaricyon |authority-name= Allen |authority-year= 1876|species-count=four|no-note=y|narrow-percent=75}}

{{Species table/row |name=Eastern lowland olingo |binomial=Bassaricyon alleni |image=File:Bassaricyon alleni.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt= |authority-name=Thomas |authority-year=1880|authority-not-original= |range= Lowlands of Guyana, Venezuela, and in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia east of the Andes |range-image=File:B-alleni map.jpg |range-image-size=180px |size= |habitat= |hunting= |iucn-status= LC |population= |direction= |subspecies= }}

{{Species table/row |name=Northern olingo |binomial=Bassaricyon gabbii |image=File:Bassaricyon gabbii.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt= |authority-name=Allen |authority-year=1876 |authority-not-original= |range= Central American, lowlands and highlands of Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and western Panama |range-image=File:B-gabbii geo.jpg |range-image-size=180px |size= |habitat= |hunting= |iucn-status= LC |population= |direction= |subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Three subspecies |bullets=on |'' B. g. gabbii'' |''B. g. richardsoni'' |''B. g. medius''

}} }}

{{Species table/row |name=Western lowland olingo |binomial=Bassaricyon medius |image=File:Bassaricyon medius medius.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt= |authority-name=Thomas |authority-year=1909 |authority-not-original= |range= Lowlands of Panama and in Colombia and Ecuador west of the Andes |range-image=File:B-medius geo.jpg |range-image-size=180px |size= |habitat= |hunting= |iucn-status= LC |population= |direction= |subspecies= }}

{{Species table/row |name=Olinguito |binomial=Bassaricyon neblina |image=File:Olinguito ZooKeys 324, solo.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt= |authority-name=Helgen, Pinto, Kays, Helgen, Tsuchiya, Quinn, Wilson & Maldonado, |authority-year=2013 |authority-not-original= |range= A montane species endemic to cloud forests in the Andes of Colombia and Ecuador<ref name=ZooKeys/> |range-image=File:ZooKeys-distribution of B. neblina.jpg |range-image-size=180px |size= |habitat= |hunting= |iucn-status= NT |population= |direction= |subspecies= }}

{{Species table/end}}

== Evolution == Genetic studies have shown that the closest relatives of the olingos are actually the coatis;<ref name=ZooKeys/><ref name="Koepfli2007">{{cite journal| title=Phylogeny of the Procyonidae (Mammalia: Carvnivora): Molecules, morphology and the Great American Interchange|last1= Koepfli|first1= K.-P.|last2= Gompper|first2= M.E.|last3= Eizirik|first3= E.|last4= Ho|first4= C.-C.|last5=Linden|first5= L.|last6=Maldonado|first6= J.E.|last7= Wayne|first7= R.K.| journal= Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume=43 | issue=3 | pages=1076–1095| year=2007 |doi= 10.1016/j.ympev.2006.10.003| pmid=17174109|citeseerx= 10.1.1.495.2618}}</ref> the divergence between the two groups is estimated to have occurred about 10.2&nbsp;million years (Ma) ago during the Tortonian age,<ref name=ZooKeys/> while kinkajous split off from the other extant procyonids about 22.6&nbsp;Ma ago during the Aquitanian age.<ref name="EizirikMurphy2010">{{cite journal|last1=Eizirik|first1=E.|last2=Murphy|first2=W. J.|last3=Koepfli|first3=K.-P.|last4=Johnson|first4=W. E.|last5=Dragoo|first5=J. W.|last6=Wayne|first6=R. K.|last7=O’Brien|first7=S. J.|title=Pattern and timing of diversification of the mammalian order Carnivora inferred from multiple nuclear gene sequences|journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution|volume= 56|issue=1|date= 2010-02-04|pages= 49–63|doi= 10.1016/j.ympev.2010.01.033|pmid=20138220|pmc=7034395}}</ref> The similarities between kinkajous and olingos are thus an example of parallel evolution.

The diversification of the genus apparently started about 3.5&nbsp;million years ago, when ''B. neblina'' branched off from the others; ''B. gabbii'' then split off about 1.8&nbsp;Ma ago, and the two lowland species, ''B. alleni'' and ''B. medius'', diverged about 1.3&nbsp;Ma ago.<ref name=ZooKeys/> The dating and biogeography modeling suggest that the earliest diversification of the genus took place in northwestern South America shortly after the ancestors of olingos first invaded the continent from Central America as part of the Great American Interchange.<ref name=ZooKeys/> The evolution of olingos thus contrasts with that of kinkajous, a much older lineage that is thought to have arisen in Central America long before they reached South America.<ref name="Koepfli2007" />

{{Clade|style=width:35em; |label1=''Bassaricyon'' |1={{Clade |1={{Clade |1={{Clade |1=''B.&nbsp;alleni''&nbsp;(eastern&nbsp;lowland&nbsp;olingo) |2=''B.&nbsp;medius''&nbsp;(western&nbsp;lowland&nbsp;olingo) }} |2={{Clade |1=''B.&nbsp;gabbi''&nbsp;(northern&nbsp;olingo) }} }} |2=''B.&nbsp;neblina''&nbsp;(olinguito) }}}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{Wikispecies-inline|Bassaricyon}} *{{Commons category-inline|Bassaricyon}}

{{Carnivora|C.}} {{Musteloidea|Mea.|state=collapsed}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q1425180}} {{Authority control}}

Category:Bassaricyon Category:Procyonidae Category:Carnivora genera Category:Carnivorans of Central America Category:Carnivorans of South America Category:Taxa named by Joel Asaph Allen