Erika comb rat
| Erika comb rat | ||||||||||||
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| Ctenomys erikacuellarae | ||||||||||||
| Gardner , Salazar-Bravo & Cook , 2014 |
The heather crested rat ( Ctenomys erikacuellarae ) is a type of crested rat . The species, first scientifically described in 2014, lives on the Andean slopes of the Bolivian departments of Santa Cruz and Chuquisaca .
features
The heather comb rat reaches a total length of 18.4 to 33.1 centimeters and a tail length of 2.5 to 9.6 centimeters on average. The average ear length is 5 to 10 millimeters and the average hind foot length is 28 to 44 millimeters. It is a medium to large species of the genus. The back fur is dense, thin-haired and soft. It is colored ocher-orange to sea buckthorn or medium brown. The top of the head and the muzzle are black-brown and a red-brown stripe runs from the head to the trunk. The ventral side is gray-brown to sand-colored with white or light brown spots in the armpits and lumbar region. In the front area, a collar made of lighter hair extends from the ears to the throat.
The skull has a length of 32.9 to 53.5 millimeters and a width in the area of the zygomatic arches of 21.7 to 35.2 millimeters. It is well developed, the zygomatic arches are broad and the tympanic sacs are flattened. The nasal bones are short and broadest at the front. The lower jaw is strong with a sickle-shaped coronoid process of the mandible . The upper incisors are large, opisthodontic, and coated with orange enamel .
The karyotype consists of a chromosome set of 2n = 24 chromosomes (FN = 40).
distribution
The heather crested rat lives in south-central Bolivia on the Andean slopes of the Bolivian departments Santa Cruz and Chuquisaca at heights of 800 to 1800 meters.
Way of life
The habitats of the heather crested rat are shaped by the vegetation and limestone on the mountain slopes of the dry valleys of the Andes . Like all other crested rats, it lives on the ground and digs in the ground. No information is available about their way of life.
Systematics
The heather crested rat is classified as an independent species within the genus of crested rats ( Ctenomys ), which consists of about 70 species. The first scientific description of the species comes from Scott Lyell Gardner , Jorge Salazar-Bravo and Joseph A. Cook in 2014, who described it using individuals from the Cerro Itahuaticua. They described the species on the basis of molecular biological and anatomical features and distinguished it from the Anderson crested rat ( Ctenomys andersoni ) and Yates crested rat ( Ctenomys yatesi ), which are also described in the same publication and also occur in Bolivia , which together form a taxon of comb rats form. The species was named after the biologist and conservationist Erika Cuéllar , who is committed to protecting the flora and fauna of the Gran Chaco and who was also part of the expeditions in which the first specimens of this species were collected. Originally it was called Ctenomys "monte" by Cook and Enrique P. Lessa .
Apart from the nominate form, no further subspecies are distinguished within the species .
Status, threat and protection
The heather crested rat 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 Scott Lyell Gardner, Jorge Salazar-Bravo, Joseph A. Cook: New Species of Ctenomys Blainville 1826 (Rodentia: Ctenomyidae) from the Lowlands and Central Valleys of Bolivia. Faculty Publications on the Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology, Special Publications, Museum of Texas Tech University 62, 2014; Pp. 1-34; Full text .
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Erika's Tuco-tuco. In: TRO Freitas: Family Ctenomyidae 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, p. 513. ISBN 978-84-941892-3-4 .
literature
- Erika's Tuco-tuco. In: TRO Freitas: Family Ctenomyidae 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, p. 513. ISBN 978-84-941892-3-4 .
- Scott Lyell Gardner, Jorge Salazar-Bravo, Joseph A. Cook: New Species of Ctenomys Blainville 1826 (Rodentia: Ctenomyidae) from the Lowlands and Central Valleys of Bolivia. Faculty Publications on the Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology, Special Publications, Museum of Texas Tech University 62, 2014; Pp. 1-34; Full text .