Quill pocket mice

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Quill pocket mice
Heteromys desmarestianus in Frederick DuCane Godman, Osbert Salvin: Biologia Centrali-Americana: zoology, botany and archeology, 1879–1882

Heteromys desmarestianus
in Frederick DuCane Godman , Osbert Salvin : Biologia Centrali-Americana: zoology, botany and archeology , 1879–1882

Systematics
Subclass : Higher mammals (Eutheria)
Superordinate : Euarchontoglires
Order : Rodents (Rodentia)
Superfamily : Pocket rodents (Geomyoidea)
Family : Pocket mice (Heteromyidae)
Genre : Quill pocket mice
Scientific name
Heteromys
Desmarest , 1817

Barbed pocket mice ( Heteromys ) are a genus of pocket mice with 16 species that occur in Central and South America . It contains several species that were originally assigned to the formerly independent genus Liomys , but which was dissolved due to the paraphyly of the group.

features

The quill pocket mice reach a head-trunk length of 11 to a maximum of about 18 cm and a tail length of 13 to 21 cm. Smaller species such as the Gaumer barbed pocket mouse ( Heteromys gaumeri ) weigh 35 to 60 g and larger types such as the Nelson barbed pocket mouse ( Heteromys nelsoni ) or the mountain barbed pocket mouse ( Heteromys oresterus ) weigh 60 to 130 g. In contrast to the pocket rats living largely underground, which have developed short and wide limbs and large claws for digging, the terrestrial barbed pocket mice have long, thin front legs with comparatively small claws, some of which can be spoon-shaped as an adaptation to digging activities well developed hind legs. The tail is usually about as long as the head-torso length or longer than this.

The fur of the animals contains several hairs stiffened to soft spines on the back and belly. These and the soft fur hairs are usually monochrome brown, gray or black on the upper side and white and sharply delineated on the underside from the sides of the body. In some species the belly and back are separated by a more or less clear sand-colored side stripe. Often the sparsely hairy tail is divided into a dark upper and a light lower area. In addition, in some individuals of some species, a weak and narrow ventral stripe with dark hair can appear in the middle of the neck, chest or stomach region.

Like all other geomyoidea the sting heteromyidae have large coat pockets outside on the cheeks sides, so-called cheek pouches that are used to store food and can be slipped for cleaning the outside. Characteristics typical of the genus relate primarily to the formation of skull characteristics and the dentition. The animals have a comparatively small eye socket, the rear demarcation of which is formed by a bone bridge. The front cusp of the upper premolar P4 has a long enamel fold and the lower premolar p4 always has three or more enamel cusps. In addition, the lateral ends of the cusps of the molars are smooth and rounded in all species of the genus, while they are sharp-edged in all other groups of pocket mice. Sexually mature and reproductively active male animals have very large testicles, with the scrotum extending forwards under the abdomen and backwards to the base of the tail and creating a distinctive contour in dorsal, ventral and lateral views.

distribution

The species of the barbed pocket mice are distributed over large parts of Central and South America. This makes them the only taxon within the pocket mice (Heteromyidae) with a distribution that extends to South America. Both the silk and wire-haired pocket mice as well as the kangaroo mice and kangaroo rats , on the other hand, have a distribution center concentrated in North America and only occur with a few species as far as southern Mexico.

The northernmost and at the same time one of the largest areas of distribution is owned by the Mexican quill mouse ( Heteromys irroratus ), whose area of ​​distribution extends from the extreme south of the American state of Texas through central Mexico to the south. This is followed to the south by the distribution area of ​​the Desmarest quill pocket mouse ( Heteromys desmarestianus ), which extends from southern Mexico to northern Colombia. Most other species, on the other hand, are limited to comparatively small to very small and regional distribution types. In South America, the Trinidad barbed-pocket mouse ( Heteromys anomalus ) lives in the north of Colombia and Venezuela as well as on Isla de Margarita and on Trinidad and Tobago , the Aragua barbed-pocket mouse ( Heteromys catopterius ) in northeastern Venezuela, the Paraguaná barbed-pocket mouse ( Heteromys oasicus ) on the Venezuelan Peninsula Paraguaná and the Ecuadorian quarry mouse ( Heteromys teleus ) in northwest Ecuador.

Way of life

Barbed pocket mice can be found in various forest forms in the lowlands and in mountains up to 2500 meters high. The animals are active from evening to morning, during the day they rest in their self-dug burrows. The entrance to the building is usually protected between bush roots or next to stones. Seeds , leaves, twigs, nuts and herbaceous parts of plants and sometimes also insects serve as food . These are often carried to the building with the help of the cheek pouches and stored there. The specimens either live alone (solitary) or in small family groups with a mother and her offspring. A territorial behavior is rarely or not recognizable. Females can mate up to five times a year. The gestation period is about 28 days, after which usually up to three or rarely up to five or more young animals are born.

The species originally grouped as quill mice usually live in dry or semi-arid landscapes and occasionally visit moist forests. A hole in the ground serves as a structure, which is usually located in the protection of a fallen tree, a bush or a stone. At night the individuals go in search of food. They eat seeds, herbs and other plant parts that are occasionally piled up in the burrow. According to previous observations, females and males live separately outside of the mating season. The oestrus cycle varies between species. In the case of the Panama quill pocket mouse and the Central American quill pocket mouse, females are only ready to mate during one season, whereas several mating seasons are common for the Mexican quill pocket mouse. A litter consists of 2 to 6 young animals, which are suckled for 24 to 28 days and are sexually mature after about 3 months. Infant mortality is high and the average lifespan is only slightly over 9 months. Individual specimens can live to be 18 months.

Systematics

External system

Relationships within the pocket mice according to Hafner 2016
 Pocket mice 

 Perognathinae 

 Silk pocket mice ( Perognathus )


   

 Wire-haired pocket mice ( Chaetodipus )



 Dipodomyinae 

 Kangaroo mice ( Microdipodops )


   

 Kangaroo rats ( Dipodomys )




   

 Barbed Pocket Mice ( Heteromys )



The barbed pocket mice are currently the only recent genus of the subfamily Heteromyinae within the pocket mice (Heteromyidae), which in addition to them contain the silk pocket mice ( Perognathus ), wire-haired pocket mice ( Chaetodipus ) and the kangaroo mice ( Microdipodops ) and the kangaroo rats ( Dipodomys ). Within this family, the pocket mice form the sister group of all other taxa and thus the most primal taxon of the family living recently.

Internal system

Trinidad barbed pocket mouse ( Heteromys anomalus ), illustration from the first description by John Vaughan Thompson, 1815.

The first known species of today's barbed pocket mouse , the Trinidad barbed pocket mouse , was described by the British naturalist John Vaughan Thompson in 1815 as a type of mouse under the scientific name Mus anomalus . Thompson was a doctor and soldier, scientifically he was best known as a pioneer of cancerologists and early planktonologists . He described the Trinidad quill pocket mouse after a six-year stay in Trinidad .

The French zoologist Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest first assigned the species to the hamster genus , Cricetus , in 1817 and then described the genus Heteromys in the same year on the basis of Mus anomalus , now Heteromys anomalus . After the initial description, there have been some further developments within the taxonomy of the quill pocket mouse. In 1902, Clinton Hart Merriam added the second genus Liomys to the pocket mouse , to which he assigned several newly described species. Edward Alphonso Goldman carried out a first structured revision of all previously known species of the genus in 1911 and assigned them to the two genera Heteromys and Liomys . Both genres were retained even in later revisions and compilations by various authors. On the basis of molecular biological analyzes, however , Liomys was viewed and dissolved as a paraphyletic group in the early 2000s , so that today mostly only the genus Heteromys is recognized. In addition, however, there are still scientists who advocate the separation into two genera based on morphological characteristics or the separation into the three genera Heteromys , Liomys and Schaeferia .

Wilson 2005 led eight species of the genus Heteromys and five species of the genus Liomys , so a total of 13 species. Today, 16 species, including the five former Liomys species, are distinguished within the barbed pocket mice . However, some of the species within the genus were only described or re-established in the last few decades and it is assumed that there are further cryptic species or groups of species within the species recognized today that have not yet been delimited from one another. This is especially assumed for the Desmarest barbed pocket mouse ( Heteromys desmarestianus ) and the Mexican barbed pocket mouse ( Heteromys irroratus ), which are distributed in several subspecies over large parts of Central America.

A distinction is currently made between the following types:

Danger

Most species of the pocket mouse are generally classified as not endangered or only slightly endangered. Their habitats in forest areas are usually decreasing due to fragmentation, wood use and the conversion into agricultural areas, whereby a decreasing population is assumed for some species. As a rule, species and populations with very small distribution areas are endangered. Large-scale deforestation increases the risk of landslides , which often destroy the structure of the animals. The IUCN lists Heteromys nelsoni , Heteromys spectabilis and Heteromys oasicus as threatened ( endangered ), Heteromys teleus as endangered ( vulnerable ) and all other quarry mice as not endangered ( least concern ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Volume 2. 6th edition. 1999, pp. 1319-1321, Google books .
  2. ↑ a b c d e R. P. Anderson: Family Heteromyidae. In: JL Patton, UFJ Pardiñas, G. D'Elía (Eds.): Mammals of South America, Volume 2: Rodents. University of Chicago Press, 2015; Pp. 51-52. ( Full text )
  3. ↑ a b c d e R. P. Anderson: Family Heteromys. In: JL Patton, UFJ Pardiñas, G. D'Elía (Eds.): Mammals of South America, Volume 2: Rodents. University of Chicago Press, 2015; Pp. 52-53. ( Full text )
  4. ↑ a b David J. Hafner: Subfamily Heteromyoninae, Genus Heteromys In: Don E. Wilson, TE Lacher, Jr., Russell A. Mittermeier (editor): Handbook of the Mammals of the World: Lagomorphs and Rodents 1. (HMW, Volume 6) Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2016, pp. 195 ff. ISBN 978-84-941892-3-4 .
  5. ↑ a b Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Volume 2. 6th edition. 1999, pp. 1321-1322, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
  6. ↑ a b c d David J. Hafner: Familiy Heteromyidae (Pocket mice, kangoroo mice and kangoroo rats). In: Don E. Wilson, TE Lacher, Jr., Russell A. Mittermeier (editors): Handbook of the Mammals of the World: Lagomorphs and Rodents 1. (HMW, Volume 6) Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2016, p. 170. ISBN 978-84-941892-3-4 .
  7. ^ John Vaughan Thompson : Description of a new species of the genus Mus, belonging to the section of pouched rats. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 11 (1), 1815; Pp. 161-163. ( Digitized version )
  8. ↑ David M. Damkaer: John Vaughan Thompson (1779-1847), Pioneer Planktonologist: A Life Renewed. Journal of Crustacean Biology 36 (2) March 1, 2016; Pp. 256-262. doi : 10.1163 / 1937240X-00002409
  9. ^ Clinton Hart Merriam : Twenty new pocket mice (Heteromys and Liomys) from Mexico. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 15, 192; Pp. 41-50. ( Digitized version )
  10. ^ Duke S. Rogers, Victoria L. Vance: Phylogenetics of Spiny Pocket Mice (Genus Liomys): Analysis of Cytochrome b Based on Multiple Heuristic Approaches. Journal of Mammalogy 86 (6), December 14, 2005; Pp. 1085-1094. doi : 10.1644 / 04-MAMM-A-185R3.1
  11. ↑ John C. Hafner, Jessica E. Light, David J. Hafner, Mark S. Hafner, Emily Reddington, Duke S. Rogers, Brett R. Riddle: Basal Clades and Molecular Systematics of Heteromyid Rodents. Journal of Mammalogy 88 (5), 2007; Pp. 1129-1145. doi : 10.1644 / 06-MAMM-A-413R1.1
  12. ↑ Don E. Wilson , DeeAnn M. Reeder (Ed.): Mammal Species of the World . A taxonomic and geographic Reference . 3. Edition. 2 volumes. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8221-4 (English, Heteromys ).
  13. ↑ Don E. Wilson , DeeAnn M. Reeder (Ed.): Mammal Species of the World . A taxonomic and geographic Reference . 3. Edition. 2 volumes. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8221-4 (English, Liomys ).

literature

  • David J. Hafner: Subfamily Heteromyoninae, Genus Heteromys In: Don E. Wilson, TE Lacher, Jr., Russell A. Mittermeier (editor): Handbook of the Mammals of the World: Lagomorphs and Rodents 1. (HMW, Volume 6) Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2016, pp. 195 ff. ISBN 978-84-941892-3-4 .
  • Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. 2 volumes. 6th edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD et al. 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
  • RP Anderson: Family Heteromyidae. In: JL Patton, UFJ Pardiñas, G. D'Elía (Eds.): Mammals of South America, Volume 2: Rodents. University of Chicago Press, 2015; Pp. 51-58. ( Full text )

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