(Kaieteur News) – The first scientific record of the cottontail rabbit “Sylvilagus parentum” has been confirmed in Guyana thanks to efforts by a collaborative team of Indigenous community members and international scientists.

Before this discovery, confirmed specimens had been collected only from western Suriname more than 40 years ago. The Guyana record therefore represents a major extension of the species’ known geographic range in South America and provides important new information on its distribution.

The discovery was published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Mammalia, providing the first peer-reviewed scientific confirmation of Sylvilagus parentum in Guyana and making the discovery available to researchers worldwide.