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One of Helgen’s main claims to fame was describing a new species of olingo, a small mammal related to the raccoon, which Helgen and his collaborators called the olinguito.

“They thought it was just a fussy olingo, but turns out it was completely the wrong species,” Helgen said.

Its discovery is a story that goes back a decade ago to efforts by Smithsonian zoologist Kris­tofer M. Helgen to count the number of species of the olingo, a member of the raccoon family.

Finally, he called upon Kays, the world’s resident olingo expert, to help him track down an olinguito in its natural habitat.

“Olinguito” is Spanish for “little, adorable olingo,” he said at a Smithsonian Institution news conference announcing the discovery.