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The article presents a study which determines the microvertebrates preyed upon by the pampas cat or Leopardus pajeros, a small South American felid with a broad geographic distribution, in southern Mendoza Province, Argentina. The study includes the assignment of feces to felid species by bile-acid analysis. Result of the study reveals that Pampas cat or Leopardus pajeros cat preyed upon lizards, birds, and rodents, which majority represented by cricetids, followed in importance by tuco-tucos or Ctenomys.

We studied small mammal assemblages recovered from owl pellets collected at 11 locations throughout the Argentina's Pampean Region. We identified 21 species, including two marsupials, one bat, and 18 rodents. From the analysis of this dataset, we could distinguish three main groups of small mammals that currently inhabit the Pampean Region: 1) a group of taxa related to Pampean agroecosystems (Calomys spp., Akodon azarae, and Oligoryzomys flavescens); 2) a group of Brazilian species (Cavia aperea, Oxymycterus rufus, Necromys lasiurus, Necromys obscurus, Holochilus brasiliensis, and Monodelphis dimidiata); and 3) a group including species from Patagonia, Espinal and Monte phytogeographic provinces (Microcavia australis, Oligoryzomys longicaudatus, Eligmodontia typus, Graomys griseoflavus, and Akodon molinae). In addition, we documented the first record of a species of the large-bodied group of Calomys in Buenos Aires province, expanding its distribution ca. 420 km southward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]