Check List | www.biotaxa.org/cl Volume 12 | Number 1 | Article 1839 1 Check List the journal of biodiversity data Species richness and conservation status of medium and large terrestrial mammals from four Sky Islands in Sonora, northwestern Mexico Helí Coronel-Arellano 1 , Nalleli E. Lara-Díaz 1 , Rosa E. Jiménez-Maldonado 2 and Carlos A. López-González 1 * 1 Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales, Laboratorio de Zoología, Santa Rosa Jauregui, Querétaro, México, C.P. 76230 2 Reserva Forestal Nacional y Refugio de Fauna Silvestre Ajos Bavispe, Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas, Cananea, Sonora, México, C.P. 84620 * Corresponding author. E-mail: cats4mex@gmail.com Abstract: We present the irst systematic checklist of medium and large terrestrial mammals on four mountain ranges known as Sky Islands, in northeastern Sonora, Mexico. We used camera traps for recording mammals, with which we documented 25 wild species. Two of the native species are in the IUCN Red List and four are threatened at the national level. We did not document seven wild species with potential distribution at study sites, probably due to limited availability of habitat and/ or local extirpation of species. he importance of this work is that we generated an inventory of medium and large mammals in an area considered poorly studied and highly diverse. Key words: he Apache Highlands; mammals; inventory; camera traps INTRODUCTION he state of Sonora in northwestern Mexico has extensive topographical and climatic variability, as well as diferent types of vegetation and soil, which combined enable the occurrence of a relatively large number of species of mammals (Caire 1978), making it the eighth state with most species in Mexico (Castillo-Gámez et al. 2010). Estimated species richness in the state has changed over time due to the increasing collection of wild specimens, changes in taxonomic nomenclature, and whether or not potentially occurring species and introduced species are included in species counts (Burt 1938; Ramírez-Pulido et al. 1986; Caire 1997; Castillo- Gámez et al. 2010). One of the irst studies to accumulate information about the richness of mammal species in Sonora was written by Burt (1938), who reported 139 native and two introduced species in the state. Subsequently, Caire (1978) published the most comprehensive work on mammal fauna in Sonora, reporting 120 wild species and two introduced species based on ield surveys and examination of approximately 13,000 specimens from scientiic collections. By consulting various publications and biological collections, Ramírez-Pulido et al. (1986) reported 127 species with geographical distribution in the state of Sonora. Caire (1997) summarized and updated his previous work, and reported 124 species of mammals, of which three were introduced rodents, eight domestic species and 28 species were of potential distribution in Sonora, despite a lack of veriied records. he latest review of the mammals in Sonora was by Castillo-Gámez et al. (2010), who reported 126 species of land mammals, with most species belonging to Rodentia and Carnivora. his list excludes species endemic to the islands of the Gulf of California and considers only those species with at least one specimen deposited in a biological collection. he authors documented 30 species under conservation status by Mexican laws. Previous knowledge indicates that the northeastern region of the state is home to the greatest number of mammalian species (Caire 1978), still maintaining one of the largest most comprehensive assemblages at a national and international level including species with large body size (>20 kg, Morrison et al. 2007). However, there is an evident need to explore the region which covers the state boundary between Sonora and Chihuahua due to the lack of systematic inventories of mammalian species (Marshall et al. 2004; Castillo- Gámez et al. 2010). Information gaps in the northeastern region of the state of Sonora include data on the presence, Check List 12(1): 1839, 10 February 2016 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.15560/12.1.1839 ISSN 1809-127X © 2016 Check List and Authors LISTS OF SPECIES