Nelson rice rat
| Nelson rice rat | ||||||||||||
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Nelson rice rat skull, from above |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Oryzomys nelsoni | ||||||||||||
| Merriam , 1898 |
The Nelson rice rat ( Oryzomys nelsoni ) is an extinct rodent belonging to the genus of rice rats ( Oryzomys ). It was endemic to the island of María Madre off the west coast of Mexico, part of the Marias Islands, and is known only from four adult animals that were collected there in May 1897 by Edward William Nelson and Edward Alphonso Goldman .
features
The Nelson rice rat belonged to the large species of the genus Oryzomys and had a tail whose length was significantly greater than the length of the head and torso . The total length of the four known specimens is 320 to 344 mm, the tail length 185 to 191 mm and the hind foot length 37 to 39 mm. The upper side was an intense yellowish red-brown, the coloring was particularly strong on the lower back and turned into a lighter, warm beige-brown on the head, shoulders and lower flanks. Black hair made the head and back a little darker. The underside was white, the occasionally translucent undercoat was lead-colored. The outside and inside of the ears were loosely covered with gray hairs. The underside of the tail was near the base to a third or half light yellow, the rest of the tail was dark.
Habitat and way of life
The Nelson rice rat was found in damp areas near springs and near the highest point of Maria Madre at about 550 m. The habitat is characterized by lush herbaceous vegetation in the undergrowth. The diet may have consisted of seeds, fruits, grasses and occasionally small fish and invertebrates.
die out
In the intensive catches of small mammals carried out in 1991 at the type locality, only house rats ( Rattus rattus ) could be detected. The Nelson rice rat has been classified by the IUCN as "extinct" since 1996. The reason for the disappearance of the species is presumably the displacement by the introduced black rat.
literature
- Álvarez-Castañeda, ST and Méndez, L. 2003. Oryzomys nelsoni (PDF file; 177 kB). Mammalian Species 735: 1-2.
- Carleton, MD and Arroyo-Cabrales, J. 2009. Review of the Oryzomys couesi complex (Rodentia: Cricetidae: Sigmodontinae) in western Mexico . Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 331: 94-127.
- Goldman, EA 1918. The rice rats of North America . North American Fauna 43: 1-100.
- Merriam, CH 1898. Mammals from the Tres Marias Islands, off western Mexico . Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 12: 13-19.
- Musser, GG and Carleton, MD 2005. Superfamily Muroidea. Pp. 894-1531 in Wilson, DE and Reeder, DM (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. 3rd ed . Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols., 2142 pp. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0
- Nelson, EW 1899a. General description of the Tres Marias Islands, Mexico . North American Fauna 14: 7-14.
- Nelson, EW 1899b. Mammals of the Tres Marias Islands . North American Fauna 14: 15-20.
- Weksler, M. 2006. Phylogenetic relationships of oryzomyine rodents (Muroidea: Sigmodontinae): separate and combined analyzes of morphological and molecular data . Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 296: 1–149.
- Weksler, M., Percequillo, AR and Voss, RS 2006. Ten new genera of oryzomyine rodents (Cricetidae: Sigmodontinae) . American Museum Novitates 3537: 1-29.
- Wilson, DE 1991. Mammals of the Tres Marías Islands . Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 206: 214-250.
Web links
- Oryzomys nelsoni in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2010. Posted by: Timm, R., Álvarez-Castañeda, ST & Lacher, T., 2008. Accessed February 4, 2011th