Mountain pocket mouse

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Mountain pocket mouse
Systematics
Superordinate : Euarchontoglires
Order : Rodents (Rodentia)
Superfamily : Pocket rodents (Geomyoidea)
Family : Pocket mice (Heteromyidae)
Genre : Barbed Pocket Mice ( Heteromys )
Type : Mountain pocket mouse
Scientific name
Heteromys oresterus
Harris , 1932

The mountain sting pocket mouse ( Heteromys oresterus ) and Costa Rican sting pocket mouse , is a kind of sting heteromyidae that just to the north of the Cordillera de Talamanca in Costa Rica occurs at altitudes from 1,600 to 2,800 meters.

features

The mountain pocket mouse reaches an average head-trunk length of 15.9 centimeters for the males and an average of 14.1 centimeters for the females. The tail is on average 17.5 or 16.9 centimeters long. The average ear length is 18 millimeters and the average hind foot length is 40 millimeters. It is the second largest species of the genus after the Nelson pocket mouse ( Heteromys nelsoni ); the males are significantly larger than the females. The fur of the adult animals is rough and contains individual stiffened, soft and spiky hairs on the back and stomach. The back fur is gray-black with uneven ocher-colored speckles, the sides are a little lighter sand-colored but without a real side line and the belly is white. The ears are black with a white border.

The front areas of the soles of the hind feet are bare and have six tubercles. The tail is significantly longer than the length of the head and torso and has thin hairs, the top is darker than the underside and it has a white tip.

The karyotype consists of a diploid chromosome set of 2n = 60 chromosomes (FN = 78).

distribution

Distribution area of ​​the mountain pocket mouse

The range of the mountain pocket mouse is restricted to the north of the Cordillera de Talamanca in Costa Rica , where the species lives at altitudes between 1600 and 2800 meters.

Way of life

The mountain pocket mouse lives in moist oak forest areas of the higher mountain regions of the Cordillera de Talamanca, which are characterized by a high proportion of dead wood . Sometimes the species also occurs in secondary forests . The animals are nocturnal and live on the ground; there is next to no information about their way of life.

Systematics

The mountain pocket mouse is classified as an independent species within the genus of the pocket mouse ( Heteromys ), which consists of 16 species. The first scientific description comes from William P. Harris Jr. from 1932, who already introduced it as Heteromys oresterus .

The species is common with the Desmarest spiny mouse pocket ( Heteromys desmarestianus ), the Goldman-sting pocket mouse ( Heteromys goldmani ) and the cloud forest spiny mouse pocket ( Heteromys nubicolens ) of the desmarestianus associated group within the sting heteromyidae. Apart from the nominate form, no further subspecies are distinguished within the species .

Status, threat and protection

The mountain pocket mouse is classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) as not endangered (least concern). This is justified by the stable population of the species in the area, which is completely in a protected area.

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Mountain 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. 201. ISBN 978-84-941892-3-4 .
  2. ^ William P. Harris Jr .: Four new mammals from Costa Rica. Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan 248, 1932; Pp. 1-6. ( Full text )
  3. ↑ Heteromys oresterus . In: Don E. Wilson , DeeAnn M. Reeder (Eds.): Mammal Species of the World. A taxonomic and geographic Reference. 2 volumes. 3. Edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8221-4 .
  4. ↑ Heteromys oresterus in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2018 Posted by: R. Timm, 2016. Accessed December 23, 2018th

literature

  • Mountain 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. 201. ISBN 978-84-941892-3-4 .

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