Two hundred years of studies on plains vizcachas

Abstract

The plains vizcacha, Lagostomus maximus, is a caviomorph rodent native to southern South America, with gregarious and burrowing habits and a marked sexual dimorphism. It was the subject of myths and legends of the native peoples and “Criollos” (early inhabitants of Argentina after the Spanish conquest); it was also hunted for its meat and skin and considered a pest to agriculture. It has been of interest to naturalists for more than 200 years, with some controversy about its taxonomic identity during most of the nineteenth century. From the late nineteenth century to the middle twentieth century, there were many studies about plains vizcachas distribution, behavior, and external anatomy. In the late twentieth century, there were significant advances in the knowledge of its reproductive system. The increase of studies on the plains vizcacha in recent times, regarding its conservation, population genetics, reproductive biology, zooarcheology, and paleontology, has highlighted the need for an update of the knowledge on Lagostomus maximus.