Nelson barbed pocket mouse

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Nelson barbed pocket mouse
Systematics
Superordinate : Euarchontoglires
Order : Rodents (Rodentia)
Superfamily : Pocket rodents (Geomyoidea)
Family : Pocket mice (Heteromyidae)
Genre : Barbed Pocket Mice ( Heteromys )
Type : Nelson barbed pocket mouse
Scientific name
Heteromys nelsoni
Merriam , 1902

The Nelson barbed pocket mouse ( Heteromys nelsoni ) is a type of barbed pocket mouse that is only found in the south of the Mexican state of Chiapas and in neighboring western Guatemala .

features

The Nelson pocket mouse reaches a head-torso length of about 16.2 centimeters in males and 15.1 centimeters in females. The tail becomes 19.7 centimeters and 18.6 centimeters long and the average weight is about 60 to 110 grams. The average ear length is 22 and 20 millimeters and the average hind foot length is 43 and 42 millimeters. It is one of the largest species of the genus, the males are on average much 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 to slate black with uneven ocher-colored mottling and no lighter side line, the belly is white. The ears are comparatively large, almost bare and gray and without 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 trunk and has thin hairs.

The karyotype consists of a diploid chromosome set of 2n = 42 chromosomes (FN = 78).

distribution

The range of the Nelson pocket mouse is restricted to the south of the Mexican state Chiapas and the adjacent western Guatemala , where the species lives in higher mountain areas. The entire distribution area extends over 4650 km². Only three localities are known within this: Pinabeto in the administrative unit Motozintla and the Cerro Mozotal in El Porvenir and Siltepec , all in southern Chiapas, and the Tajumulco volcano in western Guatemala. The latter population may have been wiped out by Hurricane Stan in 2006. The altitude distribution ranges from about 2500 to about 2800 meters.

Way of life

The Nelson pocket mouse is only known from a few habitats in cold and humid cloud forest areas at altitudes of 2500 to 2800 meters. The species is nocturnal and living on the ground; there is next to no information about its way of life.

Systematics

The American zoologist Clinton Hart Merriam named the species in 1902 after Edward William Nelson. The American zoologist Clinton Hart Merriam named the species in 1902 after Edward William Nelson.
The American zoologist Clinton Hart Merriam named the species in 1902 after Edward William Nelson .

The Nelson 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 Clinton Hart Merriam from 1902, who already introduced it as Heteromys (Xylomys) nelsoni . The animals available to him for the first description came from a zoological excursion by the American zoologists Edward Alphonso Goldman and Edward William Nelson from the Bureau of Biological Survey of the American Department of Agriculture in Mexico. Goldman and Nelson provided Merriam with a total of about 800 individuals of different species of barbed pocket mice, through which he was able to list 20 different species and subspecies of the genus in his publication. The type locality of the Nelson pocket mouse was given as Pinabeto (also Pinabete), Chiapas. He named this species after Nelson and the Goldman barbed-pocket mouse ( Heteromys goldmani ) after Goldman. The two specimen copies of the species were found in 1896. After that, the Nelson barbed pocket mouse could only be observed there again in 2017 and 2018 with five individuals.

Apart from the nominate form, no further subspecies are distinguished within the species .

Status, threat and protection

The Nelson pocket mouse is classified as "endangered" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). This is justified by the very small distribution area and the threat from local logging. Further threat factors are climatic changes in the context of climate change and extreme weather conditions such as storms or floods.

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Nelson's 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. 197. ISBN 978-84-941892-3-4 .
  2. ^ Evelyn Rios, Consuelo Lorenzo, Sergio Ticul Álvarez-Castañeda: Genetic variation in Heteromys nelsoni (Rodentia: Heteromyidae) reveals its possible natural extinction. Mammalia 81 (3), 2017, pp. 289-296, doi: 10.1515 / mammalia-2015-0173 .
  3. ^ A b Consuelo Lorenzo, Jorge E. Bolaños-Citalán, Oscar G. Retana-Guiascón: Rediscovery of Heteromys nelsoni in its type locality after over a century. Mammalia 84 (1), 2020, pp. 6-9, doi: 10.1515 / mammalia-2018-0154 .
  4. ↑ a b c Heteromys nelsoni in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2018 Posted by: AD Cuarón, E. Vázquez, 2016. Accessed December 20, 2018th
  5. ↑ a b c Heteromys (Xylomys) nelsoni . 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 .
  6. ^ A b Clinton Hart Merriam : Twenty new pocket mice (Heteromys and Liomys) from Mexico. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 15, 192; Pp. 41-50. ( Digitized version )

literature

  • Nelson's 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. 197. ISBN 978-84-941892-3-4 .

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