Aragua barbed pocket mouse
| Aragua barbed pocket mouse | ||||||||||||
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| Heteromys catopterius | ||||||||||||
| RP Anderson & Gutiérrez , 2009 |
The Aragua spiny pocket mouse ( Heteromys catopterius ) is a type of sting heteromyidae . The species, first described in 2009, only occurs in the Cordillera de la Costa in northern Venezuela .
features
The Aragua barbed pocket mouse reaches a head-torso length of 13.2 centimeters on average and a tail length of 16.6 centimeters on average. The average ear length is 19 millimeters and the average hind foot length is 36 millimeters. It is a medium-sized species of the genus, there is no significant size difference between the sexes. The fur of the adult animals is coarse and contains individual stiffened and soft spiky hairs on the back and on the sides of the body. The back fur is dark slate gray to black with a slight mottling due to the black spines and individual ocher-colored hairs. It passes into the white belly without a delimited sand-colored band on the sides of the body. There is a noticeable black coloration as a dark spot on the top and sides of the forelegs. The ears are comparatively large and dark gray to black.
The front areas of the soles of the large hind feet are bare. The tail is comparatively long, it is slightly hairy and clearly two-colored, with the upper side being darker than the underside. The karyotype consists of 2n = 60 chromosomes (FN = 68).
The Trinidad barbed pocket mouse ( Heteromys anomalus ), whose range comes into contact with that of the Aragua barbed pocket mouse in several places, is significantly lighter and pale brown in color. It is also speckled with a stronger ocher color and the spot on the front legs is also pale brown. In addition, the skull of the Aragua barbed-pocket mouse is larger and proportionally wider with a more flattened brain skull.
distribution
The Aragua barbed pocket mouse is endemic to the Cordillera de la Costa , a coastal mountain range in northern Venezuela . The animals live at high altitudes of the mountains with an altitude distribution of about 350 to 2425 meters, but usually over 700 meters. The species was found in all four mountain ranges of the Cordillera: the Aragua-Carabodo chain, the El-Ávila-massif, the Serranía del Interior and the Macizo Oriental.
Way of life
The habitats of the Aragua barbed pocket mouse are in the area of the deciduous and evergreen rainforest and cloud forest areas of the Venezuelan Cordillera de la Costa. It does not, however, occur in bushes or in grassland areas. In the cloud forest areas, the animals live mainly in palm trees with stony soils and bamboo undergrowth. Compared to the Trinidad barbed pocket mouse, the Aragua barbed pocket mouse prefers higher altitudes as well as more undisturbed and humid habitats in areas with sympatric occurrences. Individual captured individuals in the overlap zones showed characteristics of both species and probably represent hybrids . Dominance structures were found among captured animals, in which the males behave aggressively towards females who are not ready to mate and are dominant towards the females and young animals. Males develop their hierarchy among themselves through short fights. The females are dominant over young of both sexes.
The Aragua barbed pocket mouse is ground-living and nocturnal. Animals kept in captivity mainly fed on various plants and fruits, but also ate bread and cheese. The natural diet probably consists of fruits of the locally occurring palm species, mainly Iriartea deltoidea , as well as other green vegetation, seeds, fruits and also insects. The breeding season is likely to be seasonal with a maximum of litters in the rainy season in April to May. The litter consists of 1 to 3 young animals that weigh an average of 3.3 grams at birth. The young animals are suckled by the mother animals over a period of about 48 days.
Systematics
The Aragua barbed pocket mouse is classified as an independent species within the genus of the barbed pocket mouse ( Heteromys ), which consists of 16 species. The first scientific description of the species comes from Robert P. Anderson and his doctoral student Eliécer E. Gutiérrez from 2009, who described them using individuals from the northwest of Maracay in the state of Aragua . They delimited the species from the Trinidadian quill-pocket mouse ( Heteromys anomalus ), which is also found in Venezuela. Together with the Trinidad-sting pocket mouse, Paraguaná spiny pocket mouse ( Heteromys oasicus ), the Southern sting pocket mouse ( Heteromys australis ) and Ecuador spiny pocket mouse ( Heteromys teleus ) it forms as anomalus species complex labeled complex, which all occur in South America Heteromys TYPES with the exception of the Desmarest barbed pocket mouse ( Heteromys desmarestianus ).
Apart from the nominate form, no further subspecies are distinguished within the species .
Status, threat and protection
The Aragua barbed pocket mouse is not listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) so far (as of January 2019).
supporting documents
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Paraguana Spiny Pocket Mouse. In: David J. Hafner: Subfamily Heteromyoninae, Genus Heteromys. 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. 198. ISBN 978-84-941892-3-4 .
- ^ A b c d Robert P. Anderson, Eliécer E. Gutiérrez: Taxonomy, Distribution, and Natural History of the Genus Heteromys (Rodentia: Heteromyidae) in Central and Eastern Venezuela, with the Description of a New Species from the Cordillera de la Costa . Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 331 (1), 2009; Pp. 33-93. ( Full text , doi : 10.1206 / 582-2.1 )
literature
- Paraguana Spiny Pocket Mouse. In: David J. Hafner: Subfamily Heteromyoninae, Genus Heteromys. 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. 198. ISBN 978-84-941892-3-4 .
- Robert P. Anderson, Eliécer E. Gutiérrez: Taxonomy, Distribution, and Natural History of the Genus Heteromys (Rodentia: Heteromyidae) in Central and Eastern Venezuela, with the Description of a New Species from the Cordillera de la Costa. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 331, 2009; Pp. 33-93. ( Full text , doi : 10.1206 / 582-2.1 )