Figure 1. Distribution of occurrence records of the three species of Amazonian wild canids in South America. Data obtained through literature, databases, and field inventories. A - Atelocynus microtis (short-eared dog); B - Cerdocyon thous (crab-eating fox); and C - Spheotos venaticus (bush dog).
We searched for geographic information on the rare localities and municipalities whose coordinates were unavailable using Google Earth v7.1.2 (https://www.google.com/earth/) and online gazetteers (e.g., directory of cities and towns in the world; www.fallingrain.com/world). Using these same resources, we checked all records with coordinates to ensure the best reliability of the occurrences used in this study. Specifically, we evaluated whether each point was minimally consistent with what is already known about each species’ distribution. Some doubts were solved by the researchers who collected the data. In addition, points that did not have precise information on geographic coordinates, or corresponded to questionable places, such as rivers or lakes, were discarded. Also, duplicated coordinates recorded in different databases were discharged. The remaining records (Supplemental Material-Table S1) were used for niche modeling, producing maps of the potential distribution for each species, considering the climatic variables, and analyzing generalized linear models (GLM) based on land use data.