Southern barbed pocket mouse
| Southern barbed pocket mouse | ||||||||||||
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| Heteromys australis | ||||||||||||
| Thomas , 1901 |
The southern barbed pocket mouse ( Heteromys australis ) is a type of barbed pocket mouse . It occurs in several subspecies in southern Central America and in northern South America in parts of Panama , Colombia , Ecuador and Venezuela .
features
The southern barbed pocket mouse reaches an average head-trunk length of 12.8 centimeters for the males and 12.0 centimeters for the females. The tail becomes about 14 and 13.6 centimeters long. The ear length averages 16 millimeters and the hind foot length 33 millimeters. It is a medium-sized species within the genus and the males are usually slightly larger than the females. The fur of the adult animals is coarse and contains individual stiffened, spiky hairs on the back and on the sides of the body. These spines are harder in the lowland populations of the species than in the high altitudes, where they are very soft. The back fur is dark gray to black in color, the belly side is white and is not separated from the back by a light side band.
The front areas of the soles of the hind feet are hairless. The tail is slightly hairy and, in almost all populations, clearly darker on the upper side than on the lower side. Especially on the Colombian Pacific coast, however, there are populations with a monochrome dark gray tail.
The southern barbed pocket mouse differs from most of the other South American species of the genus by its dark gray to black back fur. Compared to the mountain pocket mouse ( Heteromys oresterus ) it has a much more flattened brain skull and a shorter and wider snout. Compared to the Nelson barbed pocket mouse ( Heteromys nelsoni ) it is significantly smaller and differs from the Ecuador barbed pocket mouse ( Heteromys teleus ) by its narrower zygomatic arches and the narrower snout.
distribution
The southern barbed pocket mouse occurs in several subspecies in southern Central America and in northern South America in parts of Panama , Colombia , Ecuador and Venezuela . The altitude distribution extends to altitudes of around 2500 meters.
Way of life
The southern barbed pocket mouse lives mainly in undisturbed or only slightly disturbed rainforest areas up to heights of 2500 meters. She lives in the humid regions of the Colombian Chocó up to the Andean regions of Colombia and Ecuador. In eastern Panama it lives in wet and dry forests, bamboo heliconia stocks, thorn bushes and dry grass areas. The species often occurs in the area of lying tree trunks and in the area of watercourses. An isolated population lives in the wooded areas of the Cordillera de Mérida in Táchira , which are surrounded by agricultural land.
The animals are nocturnal and live on the ground, but can also be active less often during the day and can also climb into bushes. Furthermore, only limited information is available about the way of life of the species. They likely feed primarily on seeds and possibly also on green vegetation and insects. Like other species of the genus, they carry the collected food in their cheek pouches.
Systematics
The southern barbed pocket mouse is classified as an independent species within the genus of the barbed pocket mouse ( Heteromys ), which consists of 16 species. The first scientific description comes from Oldfield Thomas from 1901, who introduced the species on the basis of individuals from the area around St. Javier on the lower Río Cachaví in northern Ecuador. Thomas assigned the species to the genus Heteromys in the first description . It is the only species of the genus with a distribution in South America that does not belong to the anomalus group around the Trinidad spiny mouse ( Heteromys anomalus ).
Within the species, together with the nominate form, three subspecies are distinguished:
- Heteromys australis australis Thomas, 1901 : nominate form; The subspecies occurs from the northwest of Colombia to the northwest of Ecuador and the west of Venezuela, where it lives in isolation in the Cordillera de Mérida in Táchira .
- Heteromys australis conscius Goldman , 1913 : This form occurs in the extreme east of Panama and probably also in neighboring regions in the north-west of Colombia.
- Heteromys australis pacificus O.P. Pearson , 1939 : This form lives in the east of Panama, although it is only known from the region around Amagal south of Guayabo Bay in the province of Darién .
The southern barbed pocket mouse was the only species of the genus in Ecuador until the Ecuador barbed pocket mouse ( Heteromys teleus ) was first described in 2002.
Status, threat and protection
The southern quill pocket mouse is classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) as "not endangered" (least concern). The habitats in the forest areas are in some cases decreasing and it is assumed that the population sizes of the species are also stable; there are no known threats that could endanger the population.
supporting documents
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Southern Spiny Pocket Mouse. In: David J. Hafner: Subfamily Heteromyoninae, Genus Heteromys. In: Don E. Wilson, TE Lacher, Jr., Russell A. Mittermeier (Eds.): Handbook of the Mammals of the World: Lagomorphs and Rodents 1. (HMW, Volume 6) Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2016, p. 198 -199, ISBN 978-84-941892-3-4 .
- ↑ a b c Heteromys australis in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2018 Posted by: RP Anderson, D. Tirira, R. Samudio, 2016. Retrieved on January 10 of 2019.
- ↑ a b c Heteromys (Heteromys) australis . 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 .
- ^ RP Anderson: Southern Spiny Pocket Mouse. In: JL Patton, UFJ Pardiñas, G. D'Elía (Eds.): Mammals of South America, Volume 2: Rodents. University of Chicago Press, 2015; Pp. 54-55. ( Full text )
- ↑ Robert P. Anderson , Pablo Jarrín-Valladares: A New Species of Spiny Pocket Mouse (Heteromyidae: Heteromys) Endemic to Western Ecuador. American Museum Novitates 3382, Aug. 16, 2002; Pp. 1-26. ( Full text )
literature
- Southern Spiny Pocket Mouse. In: David J. Hafner: Subfamily Heteromyoninae, Genus Heteromys. In: Don E. Wilson, TE Lacher, Jr., Russell A. Mittermeier (Eds.): Handbook of the Mammals of the World: Lagomorphs and Rodents 1. (HMW, Volume 6) Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2016, p. 198 -199, ISBN 978-84-941892-3-4 .
- RP Anderson: Southern Spiny Pocket Mouse. In: JL Patton, UFJ Pardiñas, G. D'Elía (Eds.): Mammals of South America, Volume 2: Rodents. University of Chicago Press, 2015; Pp. 54-55. ( Full text )
Web links
- Heteromys australis in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2018 Posted by: RP Anderson, D. Tirira, R. Samudio, 2016. Retrieved on January 10 of 2019.