New records and description of the microstructural patterns of guard hair in Conepatus chinga (Molina, 1782) (Carnivora, Skunk) for the states of Paraná and Santa Catarina, southern Brazil

Abstract

This article aims to show new records of Conepatus chinga for the states of Paraná and Santa Catarina, in southern Brazil, contributing to increase knowledge on its distribution, besides describing the microstructural patterns of its guard hair. Three run-over specimens were found in highway BR-280, two of them in the town of Palmas, in Paraná, and one in the town of Abelardo Luz, in Santa Catarina. For describing the cuticular and medullary pattern of guard hairs, sixty slides were made. Conepatus chinga has a cross-sectional and undulated cuticular pattern and an anisocytic medullary pattern. The description of microstructural patterns of C. chinga makes it easier to conduct studies related to its ecology, increasing the chances to identify hairs found in fecal samples from carnivores in mastofauna studies