Rhagomys
| Rhagomys Temporal range: Recent | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Cricetidae |
| Subfamily: | Sigmodontinae |
| Tribe: | Thomasomyini |
| Genus: | Rhagomys Thomas, 1917 |
| Type species | |
| Hesperomys rufescens Thomas, 1886 | |
| Species | |
Rhagomys is a genus of South American rodents in the tribe Thomasomyini of the family Cricetidae.[1] Two species separated by about 3100 km[2] are known, from southeast Peru and Bolivia east of the Andes, and in the Atlantic Forest of southeast Brazil.[1] An undetermined species of Rhagomys has also been reported from Mato Grosso in central Brazil.[3] The species are as follows:
- Long-tongued arboreal mouse (Rhagomys longilingua)
- Brazilian arboreal mouse (Rhagomys rufescens)
This genus is distinguished from other sigmodontine rodents by the presence of a nail on the hallux.[2] Nuclear DNA sequence analysis has indicated that it is a sister taxon to Thomasomys.[2]
The geographic distribution may reflect a formerly continuous distribution made disjunct by extinctions, or may reflect limited sampling of the intervening areas.[4] While no other mammal taxa have a similar geographic distribution, a group of hylid frogs does.[4] Juscelinomys is an example of another sigmodontine rodent genus that also has a disjunct distribution.[4] Some disjunct distributions have been attributed to fluctuations in forest coverage during the Pleistocene, resulting from the climatic swings of the ice age.[4] However, the report of molars of an unknown member of the genus in an ocelot scat sample from a geographically intermediate location suggests that the disjunct distribution may well be artifact of limited sampling.[3]
References
- 1 2 Musser, G.G.; Carleton, M.D. (2005). "Superfamily Muroidea". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 1166. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
- 1 2 3 D'Elía, G.; Luna, L.; González, E. M.; Patterson, B. D. (February 2006). "On the Sigmodontinae radiation (Rodentia, Cricetidae): An appraisal of the phylogenetic position of Rhagomys". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution (Elsevier) 38 (2): 558–564. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2005.08.011. PMID 16213166.
- 1 2 Percequillo, A. R.; Tirelli, F. P.; Michalski, F.; Eizirik, E. (2011). "The genus Rhagomys (Thomas 1917) (Rodentia, Cricetidae, Sigmodontinae) in South America: morphological considerations, geographic distribution and zoogeographic comments" (PDF). Mammalia (de Gruyter) 75: 195–199. doi:10.1515/MAMM.2011.007. Retrieved 2011-12-26.}
- 1 2 3 4 Luna, L.; Patterson, B. D. (2003-04-30). "A Remarkable New Mouse (Muridae: Sigmodontinae) from Southeastern Peru: With Comments on the Affinities of Rhagomys rufescens (Thomas, 1886)" (PDF). Fieldiana Zoology 101: 1–24. Retrieved 2011-12-26.