It formerly included the Central American red brocket (M. temama) and sometimes the Yucatan brown brocket (M. pandora) as subspecies.[3] Considerable taxonomic confusion still exists for the populations remaining in the red brocket. Pending a solution to this, it has been evaluated as data deficient by the IUCN,[1] though it, as presently defined, is the most widespread species of brocket. It is sympatric with the smaller Amazonian brown brocket over much of its range (the latter tends to have significantly lower population densities).