Salta Comb rat
| Salta Comb rat | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Ctenomys saltarius | ||||||||||||
| Thomas , 1912 |
The Salta comb rat ( Ctenomys saltarius ) is a type of comb rats . The species is endemic to Argentina , where it is only found in the province of Salta .
features
The Salta comb rat reaches a head-trunk length of 20 centimeters and a tail length of 9 centimeters, and the hind foot length is 33 millimeters, weight information is not available. All measurements come from the holotype , i.e. the individual on which the description of the species is based, an adult female. It is a medium-sized species of the genus. The fur is short and the back color is dull green-brown ( raw umber ), with the brownish tint increasing towards the middle of the back. The sides of the body are lighter, the abdomen is sandy brown to whitish. The muzzle is also whitish and delimited from the face by an indistinct black-brown collar. The tail is two-colored with a dark top and a light underside, which are sharply demarcated from each other.
The skull is built very narrow, and unlike other comb rats, the extensions of the zygomatic arches are less wide than the distance between the incisors and the rear end of the row of teeth.
distribution
The range of the Salta crested rat is limited to the province of Salta in the north of Argentina .
Way of life
As with most crested rats, little information is available about the way of life of the species. It lives in corridor systems on the slopes and in the valleys of the Yunga up to the drier Chaco areas . The vegetation in the area of occurrence is characterized by yoke-leaf plants (Zygophyllaceae; Larrea ) and Prosopis . The Salta Comb rat feeds mainly on the leaves of the bushy plants.
Systematics
The Salta comb rat is classified as an independent species within the genus of the comb rats ( Ctenomys ), which consists of about 70 species. The first scientific description of the species comes from the British zoologist Oldfield Thomas from 1912. He described the species on the basis of a fully-grown female animal and specified Salta, northern Argentina as the type locality . Within the comb rats, the species is classified into a species group based on molecular biological characteristics, which includes the highland comb rat ( Ctenomys opimus ) and is referred to as the opimus group.
Apart from the nominate form, no subspecies are distinguished within the species .
Status, threat and protection
The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) does not classify the Salta Comb rat in a hazard category due to a lack of data , but rather lists it as "data deficient". There is uncertainty about the distribution of the species, threats to the population and conservation measures in the Andean region. It is believed that this species is threatened, but very little information is available about its occurrence, way of life, stocks and populations .
supporting documents
- ↑ a b c d e f Salta 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. 516. ISBN 978-84-941892-3-4 .
- ↑ a b c Ctenomys saltarius . 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 .
- ↑ a b c Ctenomys saltarius in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2019. Posted by: R. Ojeda, 2016. Accessed April 11, 2020th
- ^ A b Oldfield Thomas : New Centronycteris and Ctenomys from S. America. The Annals and magazine of natural history; Zoology, Botany, and Geology Vol. 10, series 8, 1912; Pp. 638-640. ( Digitized version )
literature
- Salta 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. 516. ISBN 978-84-941892-3-4 .