Cloud forest quill pocket mouse
| Cloud forest quill pocket mouse | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Heteromys nubicolens | ||||||||||||
| Anderson & Timm , 2006 |
The cloud forest spiny pocket mouse ( Heteromys nubicolens ) is a type of sting heteromyidae that only in the cloud forests of the Cordillera de Tilarán and the de Cordillera Guanacaste in northwestern Costa Rica at altitudes of 750 to 1850 meters occurs.
features
The cloud forest quill pocket mouse reaches an average head-trunk length of 14.6 centimeters, the tail is 17.5 centimeters long on average. The average ear length is 18 millimeters and the average hind foot length is 39 millimeters. It is a relatively large species of the genus, the males are significantly larger than the females. The fur of the adult animal is coarse and contains individual stiffened, soft and spiky hairs on the back and sides of the body. The back fur is dark brown with light and only indistinct ocher-colored mottling from individual, lighter hairs. On the sides of the body there is a narrow sand-colored line that separates the white belly side from the back. The ears are dark gray to dark brown and comparatively small.
The front areas of the soles of the hind feet are bare and have six tubercles. The tail is slightly longer than the length of the head and torso and has thin hairs, it is darker over most of its length on the upper side than on the lower side and ends in a dark point. The karyotype consists of a diploid chromosome set of 2n = 60 chromosomes (FN = 86).
The cloud forest quill pocket mouse is outwardly difficult to distinguish from the Desmarest quill pocket mouse ( Heteromys desmarestianus ). This has a clearer mottling and in the animals that occur in the contact zone of both species, the ocher-colored hair on the neck is particularly strong and curly and forms a collar. The mountain pocket mouse ( Heteromys oresterus ), which also occurs in Costa Rica, is slightly larger and differs from the cloud forest pocket mouse in its soft and darker fur.
distribution
The range of the cloud forest quill pocket mouse is restricted to the Cordillera de Tilarán and the Cordillera de Guanacaste in the northwest of Costa Rica , where the species lives at altitudes of 750 to 1850 meters.
Way of life
The cloud forest quarrying mouse lives in moist primary and secondary cloud forest areas of the mountain regions. It is tolerant of minor anthropogenic disturbances, but does not occur in more heavily influenced areas. The animals are nocturnal and live on the ground; there is next to no information about their way of life.
Systematics
The cloud forest 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 Robert P. Anderson and Robert M. Timm from 2006, who they introduced as Heteromys nubicolens .
The species is common with the Desmarest spiny mouse pocket ( Heteromys desmarestianus ), the Goldman-sting pocket mouse ( Heteromys goldmani ) and the mountain-sting pocket mouse ( Heteromys oresterus ) 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 cloud forest pocket mouse has not yet been recorded by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).
supporting documents
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Cloud-dwelling Spiny Pocket Mouse. In: 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, p. 200– 201. ISBN 978-84-941892-3-4 .
- ↑ Robert P. Anderson and Robert M. Timm: A New Montane Species of Spiny Pocket Mouse (Rodentia: Heteromyidae: Heteromys) from Northwestern Costa Rica. American Museum Novitates 3509, 2006; Pp. 1-38.
literature
- Cloud-dwelling Spiny Pocket Mouse. In: 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, p. 200– 201. ISBN 978-84-941892-3-4 .