The eastern mountain coati or eastern dwarf coati (Nasuella meridensis) is a small procyonid found in cloud forest and páramo at elevations of in the Andes of western Venezuela.[1] Until 2009, it was included as a subspecies of the western mountain coati (Nasuella olivacea), but the eastern mountain coati is overall smaller, somewhat shorter-tailed on average, has markedly smaller teeth, a paler olive-brown pelage, and usually a dark mid-dorsal stripe on the back versus more rufescent or blackish, and usually without a dark mid-dorsal stripe in the western mountain coati.[1] When the two were combined, they were classified as Data Deficient on the IUCN Red List but following the split the eastern mountain coati is considered endangered. A genetic analysis revealed that it should be regarded as a synonym of N. olivacea.[2]
The physical differences between the N. meridensis and N. olivacae is suggested to be of allopatric nature and is attributed to a geographical gap at the Columbian-Venezuelan border.›