Checklist of mammals from Goiás, central Brazil

The state of Goiás, in central Brazil, is covered mainly by the Cerrado domain, with the Alto Paraná Atlantic Forest occupying its central-southern portion. Goiás is one of the 20 Brazilian federative units without a mammal checklist. In this study, we provide the first checklist of mammals from Goiás state. We recorded mammal species based primarily on the analysis of specimens housed in scientific collections as well as on literature with associated voucher material. We listed 191 mammalian species belonging to 125 genera, 31 families and 10 orders, which represents 25.2% of the mammal species occurring in Brazil. The most speciose orders were Chiroptera (90 spp.), followed by Rodentia (43 spp.), Carnivora (19 spp.) and Didelphimorphia (17 spp.). The following orders accounted for a smaller portion of the state diversity: Cetartiodactyla (7 spp.), Cingulata (7 spp.), Primates (4 spp.), Pilosa (2 spp.), Lagomorpha (1 sp.), and Perissodactyla (1 sp.). A total of 28 species (14.7%), mainly represented by medium and large-sized mammals, are nationally threatened while 12 (6.3%) are globally threatened. Our results indicate great portions of the state lacking a proper survey of mammals, especially the northwestern portion. We discuss species richness, distribution and conservation status of the mammals of Goiás state in national and regional scenarios. We highlight the need for mammal inventories based on complementary survey techniques with the collection of vouchers in order to provide karyologic, molecular, morphologic, parasitologic, and ecological data. These informations are the basis for integrative studies that lead to the understanding of current mammalian richness and diversity. Indeed, knowledge on species richness distribution in the state will guide conservation strategies, especially in areas undergoing habitat loss and fragmentation, such as the central-southern portion of Goiás.


Introduction
The number of mammalian species has increased through time; currently, more than 6,400 species are recognized worldwide, with the Neotropics considered as the third most species-dense biogeographic region (Burgin et al. 2018;2019). Within this region, Brazil is the richest country, which might be related to its large area and environmental heterogeneity (Quintela et al. 2020). This diverse country holds 759 native species, distributed in 249 genera, 51 families and 11 orders (Abreu et al. 2020;Quintela et al. 2020).
Although there is an enormous potential to describe new species [e.g., many have been recently surveyed, while many groups need taxonomic reviews (Gonçalves & Oliveira 2014;Nascimento & Feijó 2017;Bezerra et al. 2020)] and a great field for research on their ecology, biogeography, and population genetics, among others, we are facing an unfavorable scenario for conservation biology in the country (Quintela et al. 2020). The Cerrado and Atlantic Forest domains harbor a high mammalian diversity and endemism (Paglia et al. 2012;Gutiérrez & Marinho-Filho 2017;Quintela et al. 2020), and have been severely threatened by anthropogenic impacts, moreover were listed, among only 34 other regions, as biodiversity hotspots for the world conservation (Myers et al. 2000;Mittermeier et al. 2004). More than 80% of the remnants of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest are smaller than 50 ha (Ribeiro et al. 2009), and for the Cerrado, more than 50% of its original area (approximately 2 million km 2 ) have been converted into pasture and agricultural areas (Klink & Machado 2005;Strassburg et al. 2017).
Considering the large Brazilian territory, its environmental heterogeneity and conservation status, currently only seven federative units have checklists of mammals available: Amapá (Silva et al. 2013), Espírito Santo (Moreira et al. 2008), Mato Grosso (Brandão et al. 2019), Mato Grosso do Sul Tomas et al. 2017), Santa Catarina (Cherem et al. 2004), São Paulo (Vivo 1998;Vivo et al. 2011), and Rio de Janeiro (Rocha et al. 2004). A checklist is the first step in order to plan inventories, conduct biogeographic and systematic studies, and develop conservation actions; thus, a review of the mammal records for each Brazilian state is warranted (Brandão et al. 2019). In this study, we provide the first checklist of mammals from Goiás state, with comments on their distribution and conservation.

Study site
The state of Goiás is located in central Brazil (12° to 19° S, 46° to 53° W) and is represented by two ecoregions: Cerrado and Alto Paraná Atlantic Forest (Dinerstein et al. 2017) (Figure 1). Goiás has the seventh largest territorial extension among the 27 federative units in the country, with approximately 340,106 km 2 (IMB 2020), representing 4% of the national territory. It is almost entirely characterized by the Cerrado domain, with its remnants being severely fragmented mainly by cattle ranching and agriculture activities (Prado et al. 2012), as well as other threats such as hydroelectric dams and mining (Melo & Soares 2005).
The Brazilian savanna is composed of a continuous mosaic represented by different phytophysiognomies ranging from grasslands to closed canopy forests (Eiten 1972). However, the distribution of these phytophysiognomies throughout the domain is not equitable (e.g., while gallery forests represent only 5% of the total area of the Cerrado, the stricto sensu cerrados cover about 70% of the landscape) (Ribeiro et al. 1998;Oliveira et al. 2017). The Cerrado in Goiás also ranges through a great elevational gradient, from valleys and depressions  Table 1 (see Supplementary Material S1 for access to the references and coordinates). Ecoregions and rivers (adapted from Dinerstein et al. 2017). Black lines indicate the political geographic boundaries. mainly located at its western portion at the Araguaia river margins, to highlands located at the Brazilian Central Plateau in its central and eastern portions (Cardoso & Marcuzzo 2014). The Chapada dos Veadeiros and Serra Geral do Paranã, at its northeastern border, are the most elevated regions, ranging from 800 to 1,700 meters high (NASA 2002). Three main hydrographic basins delimit and cross the Cerrado in Goiás: the Araguaia at west, Tocantins at central, and São Francisco at its eastern border. The other ecoregion, the Alto Paraná Atlantic Forest, is represented by forest patches in its central-southern portion (Figure 1), mainly located at river margins and valleys of the Paraná hydrographic basin, also at the Brazilian Central Plateau slopes (RADAMBRASIL 1982). Goiás climate is classified as Köppen's Aw -tropical with dry winters (Setzer 1966). The mean annual temperature is around 23 o C, and the mean annual pluviosity around 1,500 mm. However, the temperature and rainfall regime define two distinct seasons: the hot and wet season during the months of October to April, with temperatures around 26-27 o C, concentrating 85% of the rainfall; and the cold and dry season, ranging from May to September, with a total pluviosity around 200 mm, and mean temperatures around 21 o C (Cardoso & Marcuzzo 2014).
These environmental features, together with the climatic fluctuations during the Tertiary and Quaternary periods, have shaped the biogeography and evolutionary history of the Cerrado, leading to the great biodiversity and endemism currently found, with the neighboring forested domains playing a major role (Da Silva & Bates 2002; Werneck 2011).

Data collection
We recorded mammal species based primarily on the analysis of specimens housed in mammalian scientific collections: American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA (AMNH); Laboratório de Biodiversidade Animal, Universidade Federal de Jataí, Goiás Paraíba, João Pessoa, Brazil (UFPB). We tried to include at least one voucher per species to attest the presence of each taxon in the state (see Table 1).
We also searched for articles about mammals from Goiás in the following databases: Scientific Eletronic Library Online (Scielo, www.scielo.org), Web of Science (WoS, http://portal.isiknowledge.com), Scopus® (www.scopus. com) and Periódicos CAPES (http://www.periodicos.capes.gov.br/). The combination of the keywords "Goiás AND mammals", "Cerrado AND mammals", "savanna AND mammals" were used. We also used the database of the Brazilian Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations of the Brazilian Institute of Sciences and Technology (BDTD 2020). The bibliography with voucher material (records based on photographic evidences -of camera trap, tracks or direct observations -were also considered as vouchers in the case of medium and large-sized mammals) were cited in Table 1 and included as Supplementary Material (S1). The recorded localities were classified by mammal group (bats, small non-flying mammals and medium and large mammals) and plotted in a map ( Figure 1) in order to give a general picture of the surveyed areas in Goiás state.
We followed the updated and annotated checklists of mammals from Brazil (Abreu et al. 2020;Quintela et al. 2020) for taxonomic hierarchical categories and nomenclature of the mammal taxa. Since these checklists differ in the treatment of some taxa, we cited our decisions bellow. We used the name Cetartiodactyla Montgelard, Catzeflis & Douzery, 1997 for the order including members of Artiodactyla Owen, 1848 and Cetacea Brisson, 1762; we used the name Dicotyles Cuvier, 1816 for the genus of the collared peccary according to Acosta et al. (2020); both decisions followed Abreu et al. (2020). For the taxonomic nomenclature of Chiroptera we followed Garbino et al. (2020). We considered Conepatus amazonicus Hershkovitz, 1994 as a valid taxon; we also treated Cabassous squamicaudis (Lund, 1845) as a valid species; both decisions followed Quintela et al. (2020). Here we used the concept of Marmosa demerarae (Thomas, 1905) of Silva et al. (2019a) following Quintela et al. (2020). We treated Calomys mattevii Gurgel-Filho, Feijó & Langguth 2015 as a junior synonym of C. expulsus (Lund, 1840), according to Gutiérrez & Marinho-Filho (2017); Sylvilagus minensis as a valid species based on Ruedas et al. (2017) and Silva et al. (2019b); and we did not treat Galea flavidens as valid, according to Bezerra (2008), differing from the previous checklists. The concept of Holochilus sciureus follows the recent study of Prado et al. (2021). Conservation statuses are based on the Brazilian (ICMBio/MMA 2018) and international (IUCN 2020) red lists of threatened species.

Results and Discussion
A total of 191 mammalian species, distributed in 125 genera, 31 families and 10 orders were recorded for Goiás state. The richest order is Chiroptera, with 90 species, followed by Rodentia (43 spp.), Carnivora (19 spp.), and Didelphimorphia (17 spp.). The other orders comprise less diverse groups: Cetartiodactyla (7 spp.), Cingulata (7 spp.), Primates (4 spp.), Pilosa (2 spp.), Lagomorpha (1 sp.), and Perissodactyla (1 sp.) (Table  1). These results corroborate the richness pattern found in Brazil and in the world, where the most diverse mammals are bats and rodents (Burgin et al. 2018;Abreu et al., 2020;Quintela et al. 2020), as well as the pattern found in the Cerrado domain, where Chiroptera represents the richest order followed by the Rodentia, Didelphimorphia and Carnivora (Carmignotto et al. 2012). However, bats presented a much higher proportion in the state (47%) compared to the Cerrado (35%), while the opposite trend was found for rodents (22% in Goiás and 34% for the Cerrado), evidencing the lack of studies on this latter group in the state.
A total of 28 species (14.7%) are included in some national threat category (four as endangered -one armadillo, one bat, two rodents -and 24 as vulnerable -one marsupial, one armadillo, one anteater, five bats, one primate, two rodents, nine carnivores, a tapir, two deers, one peccary), while 12 species (6.3%) are globally threatened (three as endangered and nine as vulnerable), 10 (5.2%) are considered as Near Threatened (NT), and 12 (6.3%) as Data Deficient (DD), with this later category mostly represented by rodents and bats (Table 1). The high percentage of threatened and DD species highlight the need to increase our efforts regarding further studies and conservation of target mammalian species and/or poorly surveyed regions in the state.
In relation to general distribution patterns, 53% of these taxa (9 spp.) are widely distributed, and shared between the Cerrado and forested domains, such as the Amazonian and Atlantic Forests. This is the case of  (Carmignotto et al. 2012), and the semideciduous seasonal forest fragments, which still persist in the state (Ribeiro & Walter 2008;IBGE 2011).
Considering the local distribution patterns, we can cite six didelphids that are rare in Goiás, with few records restricted to different portions of the state: Marmosa paraguayana and Philander quica, both widely distributed in the Atlantic Forest of southeastern Brazil, are restricted to the southeast of Goiás (Carmignotto 2005;Silva et al. 2019a), suggesting a closer relationship between this region and the Atlantic Forest; Caluromys philander and Monodelphis americana, which occur on both forested domains (Amazon and Atlantic Forest), present few and scaterred records in southwestern (only Caluromys), central and northern portions of the state (Carmignotto 2005;Pavan et al. 2014); Lutreolina crassicaudata, a marsupial with a disjunct distribution in South America, is restricted to its southern portion Carmignotto et al. 2014); and Thylamys velutinus, a Cerrado endemic species, is restricted to southwestern and northeastern portion of the state, in two protected areas (Parque Nacional das Emas and Parque Nacional da Chapada dos Veadeiros) (Bonvicino et al. 2002(Bonvicino et al. , 2005Carmignotto & Monfort 2006;Carmignotto et al. 2014). Besides the restricted distribution in the state, this latter species is also threatened in Brazil, classified as vulnerable (Rossi et al. 2018). Thylamys karimii, although presenting a wider distribution, is also treated as vulnerable at the IUCN Red List (Carmignotto et al. 2016). In the case of L. crassicaudata, it is also important to note that the records from Goiás delimit the northeastern range of the southern portion of its distribution in South America (Martínez-Lanfranco et al. 2014).
The richest didelphid communities were found within conservation units, such as the Parque Nacional das Emas (10 spp. -Carmignotto et al. 2014), Parque Nacional da Chapada dos Veadeiros (8 spp. -Bonvicino et al. 2002;2005), Parque Estadual da Serra de Caldas Novas (6 spp. Costa et al. 2003;Carmignotto 2005), and areas very well sampled, such as the region of the Hydroelectric dam of Serra da Mesa (11 spp. Costa et al. 2003;Carmignotto 2019) and the region of Anápolis (7 spp. -Carmignotto 2005). So, the majority of the records were based on few and well sampled localities, ranging from six to 11 didelphids, while the other regions of the state are still poorly sampled (most of them with records of only one species) (Carmignotto 2005).
Indeed, there are some didelphid taxa that need additional taxonomic comments: Cryptonanus chacoensis has proven to be a species complex, composed of very similar taxa in morphology, but distinct at molecular levels, with at least three putative species for the state (Carmignotto et al. 2014;Fegies et al. in press). The cited records for the state are all part of C. chacoensis complex (see de la Sancha and D'Elía 2014), including those cited as G. emiliae by Carvalho et al. (2002) and as C. agricolai Gomes et al. 2015). Recent revisionary studies on the genus Marmosa subgenus Micoureus have also shown genetically and geographically structured populations within M. demerarae (Silva et al. 2019a), with populations from central Brazil treated as distinct taxa, such as M. limae Thomas, 1920by Voss et al. (2020 and Abreu et al. (2020), or M. domina Thomas, 1920by Bonvicino et al. (2021. For Philander, molecular and morphological studies have also shown that populations from central Brazil can be treated as a distinct taxon: P. canus, but the limits of the geographic distribution between this species and P. quica, the species from southeastern Brazil, are not delimited yet. Both species are recorded in Goiás, but several records in the state need to be reexamined based on molecular and morphological grounds (Costa 2003;Voss et al. 2018).

Cingulata
We recorded seven species of Cingulata for Goiás state, wich represents 58.3% of the species listed for Brazil (Quintela et al. 2020). According to other Brazilian states' checklists, armadillos range from five species in São Paulo (Vivo et al. 2011) and Amapá ( Silva et al. 2013), to nine species in Mato Grosso (Brandão et al. 2019). The occurrence of the southern threebanded armadillo Tolypeutes matacus was mentioned in an interview for the region of the Parque Nacional das Emas, but only in the past . Considering that there is no reliable record or voucher material for the species in Goiás, T. matacus was not included in the list.
The largest populations of Brazilian three-banded armadillo Tolypeutes tricinctus occurs in areas of Bahia on the border with Goiás  (2003) (Table  1). This species has been classified as endangered in the Brazilian red list (Reis et al. 2018) and vulnerable in the IUCN red list (IUCN 2020).
In general, species of Cingulata listed for the state are common and widely distributed, being found in different types of environments and domains. The nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) and the yellow armadillo (Euphractus sexcinctus) are the most frequent species Bernardo & Melo 2013;Calaça et al. 2018;Feijó et al. 2018), being tolerant to disturbed environments, although they are rare in places where they suffer intense hunting pressure (Cabral et al. 2017). We consider Cabassous squamicaudis as a full species as treated by Feijó & Langguth (2013). This species co-occurs with Cabassous tatouay in Goiás Sanderson & Silveira, 2003;Rocha et al. 2019) and, as well as for other species of armadillos, the number of records varied between studies, depending on the type of habitat, and the degree of conservation of surveyed areas. Tolypeutes tricinctus and C. tatouay were the rarest species throughout its range in Cerrado, including Goiás (Anacleto et al. 2006;Ubaid et al. 2010).
Studies on armadillos remain incipient in Goiás, but the studies evaluating the ecology of the giant armadillo Priodontes maximus are worth mentioning, developed in the Parque Nacional das Emas (Silveira et al. 2009;Vynne et al. 2009). Considered as the largest and most conspicuous armadillo species, P. maximus generally is more sensitive, being recorded in more preserved environments of the Cerrado (Anacleto & Marinho-Filho 2001;Silveira et al. 2009;Carter et al. 2016;Lemos et al. 2020). According to Anacleto & Marinho-Filho (2001), high densities of the species can be observed in Goiás, but their populations have been drastically reduced, being listed as vulnerable (VU) (ICMBio/MMA 2018; IUCN 2020). Habitat loss, fragmentation, fires and roadkill are the main threats for the species (Silveira et al. 1999;Hannibal et al. 2018;Lemos et al. 2020).
We reinforce the north and northeastern areas of the state as regions of knowledge gaps for Cingulata, mainly the Paranã Valley, as well as the southwestern of Goiás, including the region of Serranópolis and Serra do Caiapó. This latter region was informally mentioned as area of occurrence of T. matacus, but requires further studies to confirm the presence of this species.

Pilosa
Only two species of the order Pilosa occur in Goiás state, the giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) and the southern tamandua (Tamandua tetradactyla), both representing the family Myrmecophagidae. These species comprised 16.6% of Pilosa members found in Brazil (Quintela et al. 2020). In other Brazilian states, Pilosa richness varied from one (in Santa Catarina - Cherem et al. 2004) to five species (in Amapá - Silva et al. 2013, andMato Grosso -Brandão et al. 2019).
Giant anteaters are considered common in Goiás state, being a frequently registered species in mammalian studies conducted in the region Gomes et al. 2015;Cabral et al. 2017;Oliveira et al. 2019 (Desbiez & Medri 2010).
The giant anteater is categorized as a vulnerable species (ICMBio/ MMA 2018; IUCN 2020). Human activities such as agriculture, deforestation, hunting, roadkill, and fire are the main threats for population establishment (Miranda et al. 2014a). On the other hand, T. tetradactyla is classified as Least Concern, even though the knowledge on its population density is scant. This species suffers the same threats as those cited for M. tridactyla (Miranda et al. 2014b).
The first bat collected in the region currently corresponding to Goiás state dates back to 1819, by Auguste de St-Hilaire (I. Geoffroy St.-Hilaire 1824). In his study, Isidore St-Hilaire describes the species Vespertilio hilarii, later synonymized as Eptesicus brasiliensis (Carter & Dolan 1978;. Gervais (1855) cited the occurrence of six species for Goiás based on F. Castelnau's expedition to the "Province of Goiás". One of the species, Vespertilio chiloensis (= Myotis chiloensis), was not considered here because it must be an incorrect identification, since the species has a distribution restricted to Chile and southwestern Argentina . The third record was made in 1823 by Dr. Johann Emanuel Pohl, on an expedition to Goiás (Pelzeln 1883). The only city in Goiás mentioned by Pelzeln is the old state capital, Goiás city. However, the exact locality of the record is imprecise, since the expedition entered the state along the border with Minas Gerais state, along the Rio das Velhas, and proceeded in the direction to the river that, according to this author, is probably the Araguaia River (Pelzeln 1883).
The panorama of the number of bat species registered for Goiás over the years shows four peaks, with the highest increase in 1982, 1998, 2005, and 2017-2020 (Figure 2). The first increment concerns to the study of Coimbra et al. (1982), with the contribution to the zoogeography and ecology of bats in Cerrado regions of central Brazil. In 1998, a single study added 21 new species. It refers to Fernanda Trierveiler's unpublished master dissertation in the Serra da Mesa hydroelectric reservoir region, in northern Goiás (Trierveiler 1998). Moreover, five articles published in 2005 resulted in the third peak of species addition with 11 new records, 64% of those by Fracasso & Salles (2005). This paper stands out for being the only one based on fossil material and including recent (non-fossil) material deposited in a scientific collection (the Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, MN). Bezerra & Marinho-Filho (2010)  In general, the new records added here are expected, since these species occur within neighboring states (Bianconi & Pedro 2017;Sartore et al. 2017;Zortéa et al. 2017). It is important to mention that the previous record of E. perotis for Goiás, provided by Sartore et al. (2017) and based on the study of Eger (1977), is erroneous. Eger (1977) refers to the material deposited at the Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique (IRSNB) that was attributed to a location in Goiás state named "Parano do Manhana" (sic). In a careful investigation, Suckow et al. (2010) rectified this information indicating that the correct location is "Paranã do Manhana", a locality in the upper Amazonas River. Bichuette et al. (2018) registered 66 species in a recent review of bats from Goiás and the Federal District. Two species considered by these authors were not considered in our study: Cynomops abrasus and Histiotus laephotis. Although these species are likely to occur in Goiás, especially C. abrasus, we have not found supporting material to attest their occurrence in the state.
The order Chiroptera is one of the most representative of mammals globally, a pattern reflected in Brazil, and also in this study. According to , at least 118 species occur in the Cerrado, of which 76% occur in Goiás, as found in the present study. Concerning Brazil, Goiás comprises about 50% of the 181 recognized species (see Garbino et al. 2020). These figures show that Goiás state presents a high bat species diversity, playing a significant role for the conservation of this group in Brazil.
The family Phyllostomidae is the most diverse in Brazil (93 spp.- Garbino et al. 2020), a pattern reflected in our study. Phyllostomidae bats are most commonly captured in the understory with mist nets, the country's most-used capturing method . Families such as Molossidae and Vespertilionidae are also diverse, but they demand complementary methods to be registered (e.g., bioacoustics inventory), which is still rarely used in Brazil. Other species not registered in Goiás are likely to occur due to close records in the state's frontiers, as the record of Pygoderma bilabiatum in the IBGE's Reserve in the city of Brasília, Federal District (Schneider et al. 2011).
Regarding endemism, three species considered endemic to the dry diagonal of Brazil [Lonchophylla bokermanni, Lonchophylla dekeyseri (Cerrado), and Xeronycteris vieirai (Cerrado and Caatinga)] are found in Goiás (Aguiar et al. 2010;Zortéa et al. 2017;Dias & Oliveira 2020 Despite the remarkable diversity of bats reported here, Goiás still stands out as one of the Brazilian states with the lowest bat sampling locations (Bernard et al. 2011), thus it is indicated by  as a priority area for bat inventories. Bat records are concentrated mainly in the southern and eastern portions of the state (Mambaí region) (Figure 1). The number of species can be higher, if we consider the lack of bioacoustic studies. For example, in addition to the 20 species recorded by Arias-Aguilar et al. (2018), several sonotypes were not identified by them, including complexes from several families.
Many of the Cerrado areas were converted into agriculture, especially soy monoculture, which reduced this domain to just 20% of the original area (Strassburg et al. 2017). Goiás is home to a large portion of the Cerrado domain. Currently, the economy model based on agriculture affects bat assemblages changing habitat structure and leading to reduced shelter and food availability, which can potentially cause local and even permanent extinctions according to a climate modeling study ). In addition, the reduction of habitat availability imposed by the expansion of agriculture contributes to the loss of environmental quality. This scenario favors the susceptibility of contact with pollutants in water resources, in the air, and in ingested food (Bayat et al. 2014;Souza et al. 2020), which can jeopardize animal immune responses and increase the chances of contracting diseases, leading to the decline of bat populations (Naidoo et al. 2016;Miguel et al. 2019).
There are indications that the southern and southeastern parts of the Cerrado (including areas in Goiás) are potential regions of high habitat suitability for many bat species in a dispersion scenario motivated by climate change . This adds value to the region for long-term conservation of chiropterans and further emphasizes the need for inventory efforts and updating species richness and distribution in the state. These data are essential for elaborating effective landscape management strategies to guarantee the persistence of suitable habitats for bat species and their ecosystem services, such as pollination, agricultural pest predation, and seed dispersion.

Primates
We recorded four primate species in Goiás state, belonging to three genera and three families, which represents only 2.7% of this group diversity in the country (Jerusalinsky & Melo 2018). In the Brazilian states, richness of primates varied from three (in Santa Cataria - Cherem et al. 2004) to 25 species (Mato Grosso - Brandão et al. 2019). Primate richness in the Cerrado is considered lower (5 spp.) compared to Amazon and Atlantic Forest (Paglia et al. 2012).
The four primate species recorded here are common in its geographical range. Alouatta caraya, Sapajus libidinosus and Callithrix penicillata are abundant in Goiás, and display great environmental plasticity, occuring even in urban fragments (Grande et al. 2020). Blackpencilled marmosets can reach high densities and be more common in degraded areas (Grande et al. 2020), and were not registered in protected areas such as Parque Nacional das Emas , and Chapada dos Veadeiros (Ferreguetti et al. 2019). The geographical distribution of Sapajus cay reaches Goiás state (IUCN 2020), where it was recorded in Atlantic Forest enclaves in the municipalities of Aporé and Itajá, southwestern of the state (Calaça et al. 2018;Gusmão et al. 2018). Habitat loss has been the main threat for capuchin monkeys. In the last 48 years, the populations of S. cay declined about 30%, which led the species to be currently categorized as Vulnerable in the Brazilian red list (Rímoli et al. 2018).
We recorded 47.4% 9 spp.) of carnivora categorized as vulnerable (C. brachyurus, L. vetulus, S. venaticus, L. braccatus, L. wiedii, P. onca, H. yagouaroundi, P. concolor and P. brasiliensis) according to the Brazilian Red List (ICMBio/MMA 2018). Carnivora is the most threatened Brazilian mammal group, being habitat destruction the biggest challenge for the conservation of these animals. In the Atlantic Forest, Carnivora species richness is affected by the amount of native vegetation cover (Regolin et al. 2017). In the Cerrado, there is higher occupancy of C. brachyurus and P. concolor in strictly protected areas (Ferreira et al. 2020). Further, the conflict with humans (i.e., retaliation), roadkills, urbanization, fires and diseases are other concerns about Carnivora conservation (Beisiegel 2017).

Perissodactyla
The lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris) represents the unique species of Perissodactyla confirmed for Goiás. The species is widely distributed in Brazil and common in several regions of the state, recorded in open and forested environments, as well as in crop lands Cabral et al. 2017;Oliveira et al. 2019). However, in southeastern Goiás, the presence of lowland tapir is rare, occurring only in landscapes with higher native habitat amount (Rocha et al. 2018). Lowland tapir is nationally and globally threatened, categorized as vulnerable (ICMBio/ MMA 2018;IUCN 2020). According to the Brazilian red list (ICMBio/ MMA 2018), T. terrestris reaches different threatened categories across the Brazilian domains (e.g., regionally extinct -Caatinga, endangered -Cerrado and Atlantic Forest, near threatened -Pantanal, and least concern -Amazon ) (Medici et al. 2018). In the Brazilian Cerrado, agricultural expansion and consequent low percentage of native remnants are the highest threats to lowland tapir populations (Medici et al. 2012).

Cetartiodactyla
We recorded seven species of Cetartiodactyla for Goiás state, representing only 12% of the group species richness cited for Brazil (Quintela et al. 2020). This richness is similar to those registered in other states of the country, with six species in Mato Grosso do Sul (Tomas et al. 2017) and nine species in Mato Grosso (Brandão et al. 2019), but lower than richness found in other states that harbor aquatic mammal species (e.g., São Paulo, with 33 species - Vivo et al. 2011). Collared peccary and White-lipped peccary, species of Tayassuidae, present a wide geographical range in the Brazilian territory (Desbiez et al. 2012;Keuroghlian et al. 2012). Dicotyles tajacu is more resistant to environmental degradation, managing to survive even in devastated areas (Sowls 1997;Desbiez et al. 2012), while Tayassu pecari in Brazil is classified as vulnerable (Keuroghlian et al. 2018). This species is in peril in regions most impacted by human action such as southeastern Goiás, where the most recent records date from approximately ten years ago (Keuroghlian et al. 2012).
Mazama americana and M. gouazoubira are considered common, occurring in all domains of Brazil, with the red brocket evaluated as data deficient, and the gray deer as least concern in the IUCN Red List (Duarte et al. 2012a;Duarte & Vogliotti 2016). Ozotoceros bezoarticus is classified as vulnerable in Brazil, due to population decline and geographical isolation  (Gonzalez et al. 2010;Duarte et al. 2012c;Duarte et al. 2018) and as near threatened in the IUCN Red List (González et al. 2016). Despite being very common in some areas in the southwestern region of Goiás , the subspecies Ozotoceros bezoarticus bezoarticus is considered vulnerable due to a 98% decrease in its distribution area, which depends on preserved open vegetation formations in the Cerrado (Weber & Gonzalez 2003;Duarte & Gonzalez 2010;Duarte et al. 2012c). Blastocerus dichotomus is the largest species of deer in Brazil, being classified as vulnerable in nacional and international red lists (Duarte et al. 2012d(Duarte et al. , 2016(Duarte et al. , 2018. It inhabits floodplains of the great rivers and their affluents. The highest concentrations of marsh deer can be observed in the Pantanal and in the region of Ilha do Bananal in the Araguaia River (Tiepolo & Tomas 2009;Duarte et al. 2012d). Inia araguaiaensis was recently described as a distinct species of Inia, being restricted to the Araguaia-Tocantins basin (Hrbek et al. 2014;Siciliano et al. 2016). Although its status is not yet recognized by the IUCN and Ministério do Meio Ambiente (MMA), Hrbek et al. (2014) suggest the classification to be considered as vulnerable due to the great threats in its occurence area, such as agricultural and industrial development, and hydroelectric dams, that contributes to the fragmentation of populations.

Lagomorpha
The Lagomorpha order is represented by a single genus in Brazil, Sylvilagus, which was treated as monotypic, represented by S. brasiliensis with several subspecies until recently. Currently, this complex taxonomic history began to be elucidated based on phylogenetic relationships among South American populations. Ruedas et al. (2017) recognized at least three distinct species for the country: S. brasiliensis, S. minensis and S. tapetillus, with other taxonomic issues yet to be clarified (Silva et al. 2019b). In Goiás state, only S. minensis is expected to occur (Bonvicino et al. 2015;Ruedas et al. 2017). In general, Brazilian cottontail rabbits are considered common, with a wide distribution and preference for edges of forest habitats, although they are also recorded in open environments, bamboo forests and disturbed areas (Emmons & Feer 1997;Silva Júnior et al. 2005;Borges et al. 2014;Dias et al. 2019). Sylvilagus minensis was one of the most common medium-large mammal species recorded in fragmented areas of the southwestern region of the state (Gomes et al. 2015;Rocha et al. 2018), being associated with forest environments (Gomes et al. 2015). However, the species was not recorded in some conservation units, such as the Parque Nacional das Emas  and the Parque Nacional Chapada dos Veadeiros (Ferreguetti et al. 2019), which present a predominance of shrublands. Due to recent taxonomic rearrangements, S. minensis has not yet been evaluated by the IUCN and MMA.

1. Hystricognathi
Seven rodent families represent the infraorder Hystricognathi in Brazil, being five of them found in Goiás state. Among these families, we account a total richness of 12 genera and 14 species, distributed as described above. Comparing to other states of central-western Brazil, this richness fits in a range of nine genera and 10 species in Mato Grosso do Sul (Tomas et al. 2017) to 15 genera and 20 species in Mato Grosso state (Brandão et al. 2019).
Concerning the general distribution patterns in Goiás state, 64% (9 spp.) of the Hystricognathi species are forest vegetation inhabitants, with six species widely distributed (i.e., Cavia aperea, Coendou prehensilis, Cuniculus paca, Dasyprocta azarae, Dasyprocta leporina, and Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), occurring on the forested environments of the Cerrado, as well as in other domains of Brazil, especially in the Atlantic Forest . Two exceptions regarding widely distributional ranges are Cavia aperea, which has no records in Amazon (Dunnum 2015), and Dasyprocta leporina, with no records in Pantanal and Caatinga (Patton & Emmons 2015). Three species with restricted range distribution in the state also inhabit forested formations, being two species only shared between Cerrado and Amazon (i.e., Dactylomys dactylinus - Proechimys roberti -Patton &Leite 2015), and one species shared among Cerrado, Pantanal, and Amazon (i.e., Proechimys longicaudatus -Patton & Leite 2015).
Regarding the conservation status, two species are considered under some threaten level. The narrowly distributed species Kerodon acrobata, figures as vulnerable at Brazilian red list, and as data deficient in the IUCN, due mainly to habitat loss and illegal hunt, since it is a game species , Roach 2016. The second species, Dasyprocta azarae, is classified as data deficient in the IUCN Red List, but faces population decline tendency due to decreasing number of mature individuals, habitat loss and ilegal hunt (Catzeflis et al. 2016).
There are some taxa needing taxonomic review. Galea spixii have proven to be a species complex, composed of distinct morphological groups, and needs to be studied based on molecular data, including the description and redescription of some taxa (Bezerra 2008;Dunnum 2015); G. flavidens (Brandt, 1835) listed for Goiás by Bonvicino et al. (2005), is not considered here since it has no designated holotype, and "Brasil" as type locality (Brandt 1835), and can be considered a synonym of the fossil species Cavia bilobidens (Winge, 1888), which is considered related to G. spixii (Paula Couto 1950, Bezerra 2008; Proechimys is the most speciose genus of the family Echimyidae and needs revision in both molecular and morphological grounds, including here the represented species groups P. longicaudatus and P. guyannensis, which includes P. longicaudatus and P. roberti, respectively (Patton & Leite 2015).
In relation to general distribution patterns, 10% ( Some species are known from only one locality in Goiás, as is the case of: Cerradomys maracajuensis, recorded at Serranópolis, southern Goiás; Kunsia tomentosus, recorded only at Parque Nacional das Emas, in southwestern Goiás; Neacomys amoenus, recorded in Baliza, at western Goiás; Oligoryzomys rupestris, a species with a disjunct distributional range, and endemic to highly elevated rupestrian grasslands, recorded in Parque Nacional da Chapada dos Veadeiros at northern Goiás; Akodon gr. cursor, Oecomys roberti and Oxymycterus dasytrichus, all recorded only in the region known as 'Mato Grosso de Goiás' at the central portion of Goiás state; and Wiedomys cerradensis, recorded in São Domingos, eastern Goiás. Other species, typical of forested formations, also have few records in the state, such as Euryoryzomys lamia, restricted to eastern Goiás. Here we provide the first published records for Akodon gr. cursor and Oecomys roberti based on examined material housed at scientific collections. These records are for Anápolis (Akodon gr. cursor) and Petrolina de Goiás (Oecomys roberti) (see Carmignotto, 2005; Table 1 -present study).
Among the abovementioned species, five are classified under some threaten category, being two of them classified as endangered in the Brazilian red list (Euryoryzomys lamia and Oligoryzomys rupestris) and one as vulnerable (Thalpomys cerradensis). The IUCN red list accounts for four species, being three classified as data deficient (Oecomys cleberi, Oligoryzomys moojeni, Oligoryzomys rupestris) and one as vulnerable (Euryoryzomys lamia). Among the cricetid rodents of Goiás state, the later species, Euryoryzomys lamia is included in the more severe threaten categories of both Brazilian and IUCN red lists. This species has occupancy area of less than 2,000 km 2 and is known from only four locations, two of them are already completely destroyed due to agriculture (Percequillo & Weksler 2018). All threatened and data deficient species have in common the relatively small distribution, habitat loss due to convertion for agribusiness, and a few or no population study (see ICMBio/MMA 2018, IUCN 2020).
There are some species needing taxonomic review: Rhipidomys macrurus and Rhipidomys mastacalis have proven to be species complexes, composed of taxa morphologically similar, but distinct at molecular levels (Costa et al. 2011;Lanes 2020), as well as Oecomys catherinae (Suárez-Villota et al. 2018). So, specimens from Goiás cited as Oecomys trinitatis by Carleton and Musser (2015) and as Oecomys rex by Costa (2001), as well as those cited as Oecomys sp.1 (2n = 60), O. trinitatis (2n = 54) and Oecomys gr. catherinae (morphological data) by Carmignotto (2005), refer to O. catherinae species complex of Suárez-Villota et al. (2018), represented by at least two distinct lineages in the state. A specimen (MN 36150 from 55 km N Niquelândia, GO) cited by Andrades- Miranda et al. (2000) with 2n = 60 and FNa = 64, and treated as Hylaeamys yunganus (see also Moreira et al. 2020), was not included in the present checklist, since the voucher material was not examined by us nor other authors working with this genus (Prado & Percequillo 2013;Percequillo 2015), being its taxonomic identity waiting to be confirmed.
The rodent fauna of Goiás state is also a composite, characterized by inhabitants of forested and open formations due to the presence of a vegetation mosaic (grasslands, shrublands, and forests) typical of the Cerrado domain (Carmignotto et al. 2012), and also by the presence of Seasonally Dry Tropical Forest remnants that still persist in the state (Ribeiro & Walter 2008;IBGE 2011). The connection between the Atlantic Forest and Amazon through forest formations of the Cerrado is already described (Costa 2003), as well as the mammal fauna shared between Cerrado and Caatinga (Carmignotto et al. 2012). Richest rodent communities were found in conservation units, such as the Parque Nacional das Emas (13 spp., Carmignotto et al. 2014) and the Parque Nacional da Chapada dos Veadeiros (14 spp., Bonvicino et al. 2002Bonvicino et al. , 2005, as well as in regions under hydroelectric dam projects, such as the Serra do Facão dam reservoir (16 spp., Gomes et al. 2015) and the Serra da Mesa dam reservoir (12 spp., Carmignotto 2019), at southeastern and northeastern of Goiás state, respectively. Furthermore, a significant number of species is also found in areas of extensive cattle ranching intermixed with natural landscapes, such as the Cadoz farm (11 spp., Bonvicino et al. 2011) and Vão dos Bois farm (9 spp., Bonvicino et al. 2002), in northeastern Goiás state. Besides the relevant richness present in conservation units, endemic and rare species were also recorded in regions affected by hydroelectric reservoirs, where it was observed a high diversity loss due to landscape flooding (e.g., Carmignotto 2019), highlighting the real need for strategic efforts to conserve rodent communities of Goiás state.

Potential rodent species in Goiás state
Among potential species which could occur in the state, we speculate that in the central region of Goiás it is possible to find records of Akodon lindberghi, Gyldenstolpia planaltensis, Thalpomys lasiotis and Phyllomys centralis. These species have been recorded in Federal District of Brazil, which is within Goiás state, and neighboring federative unities such as Mato Grosso and Minas Gerais states (

Conclusions
Goiás state harbors a rich mammalian fauna, especially for bats, rodents, carnivores, and marsupials. Regardless of state geographical size, the number of species listed for Goiás is higher than the listed for other Brazilian states, except for Mato Grosso and São Paulo. The mammalian fauna of Goiás is characterized by inhabitants of open (e.g. Cerrado and Caatinga) and forested environments (e.g., Amazon and Atlantic Forest), due to the presence of a vegetation mosaic in the Cerrado domain. Gallery forests and semideciduous forests contribute to mammal richness in central Brazil, and habitat selectivity seems to be more evident for small mammals. Medium and large-sized mammals tend to be more generalists in terms of habitat and are widely distributed across Goiás state.
Another pattern found here is that the studies reporting largest numbers of mammal species for Goiás state were carried out in conservation units, and some species have been found only inside these protected areas. Thus, we highlight the need to increment the number of conservation units in the state, especially regarding the central and southeastern portion of Goiás, which was once represented by a large area part of Alto Paraná Atlantic Forest ecoregion, but now is represented by few, scattered and small remnants, with no conservation units (Giustina et al. 2018). We also conclude that there are still great portions of the state lacking a proper mammal survey. There is scant and fragmented information about mammals based on specimens housed in scientific collections, especially from the northwestern portion of Goiás. Thus, the increase in the number of inventories in the state, including complementary survey techniques (see Srbek-Araujo & Chiarello 2004;Bovendorp et al. 2017;Arias-Aguilar et al. 2018), and the collection of vouchers and tissue samples to provide correct species delimitation and identification, will allow a better understanding on the biodiversity and conservation of mammals in Goiás state.