Argentina P365a2 Series O 500 Pesos 2019-2020 UNC—Jaguar—Jungle

Argentina's Native Animals series is one of the most celebrated wildlife banknote designs in the world — vivid, colorful, and alive with some of South America's most iconic creatures. The 500 Pesos jaguar note is the crown jewel of the series: a bold, green-drenched portrait of the jaguar (Panthera onca), Argentina's most powerful predator and a declared Natural National Monument.

Front

• Colors: green (dominant engraving), light green background, gold accents
• Subject: Adult jaguar (Panthera onca) in full profile
• Motif: Stylized flower
• Denomination: QUINIENTOS PESOS
• Issuer: BANCO CENTRAL DE LA REPÚBLICA ARGENTINA
• Legend: YAGUARETÉ — MONUMENTO NATURAL NACIONAL (Jaguar — Natural National Monument)
• Signatures: Guido Martín Sandleris (Gov., BCRA) & Marta Gabriela Michetti (President, Honourable Chamber of Senators)

Back

• Colors: green background, dark green engraving, gold accents
• Subject: Jaguar cub
• Scene: Yungas jungle (Selva de Yungas) vegetation
• Map: Argentina with PARTE CONTINENTAL AMERICANA
• Emblem: Coat of arms of Argentina
• Legend: REPÚBLICA ARGENTINA — en unión y libertad (Argentine Republic — in union and liberty)

Other Characteristics

• Varieties:
  • a1 ND(2016-2018) — Sturzenegger/Michetti, Series A–I
  • a1r — Replacement, prefix R
  • a2 ND(2019-2020) — Sandleris/Michetti, Series I–L — this note
  • a2r — Replacement, prefix R
  • a3 ND(2020-2022) — Pesce/Massa, Series L–S
  • a3r — Replacement, prefix R
• Catalog numbers: P-365a2; TBB B—; Numista N#206624
• Watermark: Jaguar (Panthera onca) and electrotype "500"
• Security strip: Visible under backlight; repeating "$500 BCRA" text; three equally spaced light rectangles behind the strip
• UV activity (365nm): Active fluorescent elements visible under ultraviolet light
• Composition: Paper
• Size: 155 × 65 mm
• Issuing entity: Central Bank of the Argentine Republic (Banco Central de la República Argentina)
• Printer: Casa de Moneda, Argentina
• Signatures: Guido Martín Sandleris (Gov., BCRA) & Marta Gabriela Michetti (President, Honourable Chamber of Senators)
• Currency: Argentine Peso (ARS)

About Argentina

• Origin of name: From Latin argentum (silver), referencing the silver-rich Río de la Plata basin that early Spanish explorers hoped to exploit
• Capital: Buenos Aires (city pop. ~3.1 million; metro pop. ~15.5 million)
  • Origin of name: Spanish for "fair winds" (buenos aires), named by Spanish colonizers in the 16th century
• Population: ~46 million (UN 2023) — roughly California and Texas combined
• Area: 2,780,400 km² (1,073,500 mi²) — roughly the size of India, or the entire contiguous US east of the Mississippi plus Texas
• GDP per capita (PPP): ~$25,000 (IMF 2023)
• Main exports: Soybeans and soy products, corn, wheat, beef, lithium, petroleum
• Borders: Chile (west), Bolivia and Paraguay (north), Brazil and Uruguay (northeast); Atlantic Ocean (east)
• Official/spoken language: Spanish (~100%)
• Ethnicities: European Argentines (~97%, predominantly Italian and Spanish descent); Indigenous peoples (~3%)
• Memberships: UN (founding member, 1945); Mercosur (founding member, 1991; hosts secretariat in Montevideo); G20 (founding member, 1999); OAS (founding member, 1948);
• Sovereignty:
  • Pre-colonial — home to diverse indigenous peoples including the Mapuche, Guaraní, and Quechua
  • Spanish colonization (1516–1816) — Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata established 1776
  • Independence declared May 25, 1810 (Revolution) and July 9, 1816 (formal)
  • Federal Republic (1861–date) — unified under Bartolomé Mitre after civil wars
  • Military dictatorships (1930–1983, intermittent) — most brutal: 1976–1983 Dirty War (~30,000 disappeared)
  • Return to democracy (1983–date) — Raúl Alfonsín elected; this note issued during this period

Argentina Unfiltered

• Argentina spans five distinct ecological zones — from the subtropical Yungas cloud forests of the northwest to the windswept Patagonian steppe, the Pampas grasslands, the Gran Chaco scrubland, and the sub-Antarctic forests of Tierra del Fuego
• The jaguar (yaguareté in Guaraní) was declared a Natural National Monument in 2001; fewer than 300 remain in Argentina, confined to the Yungas and Chaco regions
• Argentina is home to the Perito Moreno Glacier, one of the few glaciers in the world that is not retreating — and one of the most spectacular natural sights on Earth
• The country has defaulted on its sovereign debt nine times, including the largest sovereign default in history ($100 billion) in 2001
• Argentina has won the FIFA World Cup three times (1978, 1986, 2022) and produced Lionel Messi and Diego Maradona
• Patagonia — covering roughly a third of the country — has a population density of less than 2 people per km²
• Argentina is the world's largest Spanish-speaking country by area

One of the World's Most Beautiful Wildlife Banknote Series

Argentina's Native Animals series — issued from 2016 onward — was a deliberate celebration of the country's extraordinary biodiversity. Each denomination features a different iconic species in rich, saturated color: the hornero, the southern right whale, the taruca deer, the Andean condor — and at the top of the series, the jaguar. The design team gave each animal room to breathe, filling the note with lush habitat imagery rather than the usual portraits of politicians or monuments.

The 500 Pesos is the most visually striking of the set. The deep greens of the engraving evoke the Yungas jungle itself — dense, layered, alive. The reverse pairs a jaguar cub with a sweeping jungle scene, making this one of the few banknotes in the world to depict both an adult and juvenile of the same species across front and back.

The Last Jaguar's Kingdom

The jaguar — yaguareté in Guaraní, meaning "true, fierce body" — was once the apex predator of all of South America. In Argentina, it has been pushed to the very edge of existence. Fewer than 300 individuals survive in the country, clinging to the dense subtropical forests of the Yungas — the cloud forest corridor that runs along the eastern Andean slopes — and the dry Chaco scrubland. The Argentine government declared the jaguar a Natural National Monument in 2001, the highest conservation status the country can bestow on a species.

The Yungas jungle depicted on the reverse is one of South America's most biodiverse ecosystems: a narrow ribbon of cloud forest stretching from Bolivia into northwestern Argentina, draped in mist, orchids, and ancient trees. It is the jaguar's last stronghold in Argentina — and one of the most threatened habitats on the continent.

Own This Piece of Argentina

Own this Uncirculated Argentina P-365a2 500 Pesos — a crisp, unfolded example of one of the most beautiful wildlife banknote designs ever produced in the Americas, bearing the image of a jaguar that may not survive the century. A stunning addition to any world banknote collection, Latin American currency set, or wildlife-themed display.