Bolivar Rice Rat
Encyclopedia
Transandinomys bolivaris, also known as the long-whiskered rice rat, is a rodent
Rodent
Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....
in the genus Transandinomys
Transandinomys
Transandinomys is a genus of rodents in the tribe Oryzomyini of family Cricetidae. It includes two species—T. bolivaris and T. talamancae—found in forests from Honduras in Central America south and east to southwestern Ecuador and northwestern Venezuela in northern South America...
. It is found in humid forest from northeastern Honduras to western Ecuador, up to 1800 m (5900 ft) above sea level. Since it was first described in 1901 from Ecuador, six scientific names have been introduced for it, but their common identity was not documented until 1998 and the species has long been known under the name Oryzomys bombycinus, described from Panama in 1912. The name Oryzomys bolivaris was used before it was moved to the new genus Transandinomys
Transandinomys
Transandinomys is a genus of rodents in the tribe Oryzomyini of family Cricetidae. It includes two species—T. bolivaris and T. talamancae—found in forests from Honduras in Central America south and east to southwestern Ecuador and northwestern Venezuela in northern South America...
with Transandinomys talamancae (formerly Oryzomys talamancae) in 2006.
It is a medium-sized rice rat
Oryzomyini
Oryzomyini is a tribe of rodents in the subfamily Sigmodontinae of family Cricetidae. It includes about 120 species in about thirty genera, distributed from the eastern United States to the southernmost parts of South America, including many offshore islands...
distinguished by its very long vibrissae
Vibrissae
Vibrissae , or whiskers, are specialized hairs usually employed for tactile sensation. The term may also refer to the thick hairs found inside human nostrils, but these have no sensorial function and only operate as an airborne particulate barrier...
(whiskers)—those above the eyes are up to 50 mm (2.0 in) long. The fur, which is soft and dense, is usually dark brown above and light gray below; it is darker in juveniles. The feet are long and the tail is about as long as the head and body. The skull is narrow and has a broad interorbital region
Interorbital region
The interorbital region of the skull is located between the eyes, anterior to the braincase. The form of the interorbital region may exhibit significant variation between taxonomic groups....
(between the eyes). The species generally lives on the ground. Although it is rare, its conservation status
Conservation status
The conservation status of a group of organisms indicates whether the group is still extant and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future...
is thought to be secure.
Taxonomy
In 1901, Joel Asaph AllenJoel Asaph Allen
Joel Asaph Allen was an American zoologist and ornithologist, born in Springfield, Massachusetts.He studied at Harvard University under Louis Agassiz...
described four new species of rice rats in the genus Oryzomys
Oryzomys
Oryzomys is a genus of semiaquatic rodents in the tribe Oryzomyini living in southern North America and far northern South America. It includes eight species, two of which—the marsh rice rat of the United States and O. couesi of Mexico and Central America—are widespread; the six others have...
: three from Ecuador and the Peruvian Oryzomys perenensis. The three Ecuadorian species–Oryzomys bolivaris from Porvenir, Bolívar Province
Bolívar Province (Ecuador)
Bolívar is a province in Ecuador. The capital is Guaranda. Much of the province has a cool, 'sierra' climate, but the part in the lower foothills has a warm, tropical climate.-Cantons:The province is divided into 7 cantons...
; Oryzomys castaneus from San Javier, Esmeraldas Province
Esmeraldas Province
Esmeraldas is a province in northwestern Ecuador. The capital is Esmeraldas.The province is home to the Afro-Ecuadorian culture.- Cantons :The province is divided into 8 cantons...
; and Oryzomys rivularis from Río Verde, Pichincha Province
Pichincha Province
Pichincha is a province of Ecuador located in the northern sierra region; its capital and largest city is Quito. It is bordered by Imbabura & Esmeraldas to the north, Cotopaxi & Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas to the south, Napo & Sucumbíos to the east, and Esmeraldas & Santo Domingo de los...
—were each based on a single specimen collected in 1899 or 1900. He distinguished the three on the basis of coloration, size, and relative tail length. Philip Hershkovitz
Philip Hershkovitz
Philip Hershkovitz was an American mammalogist. Born in Pittsburgh, he attended the Universities of Pittsburgh and Michigan and lived in South America collecting mammals. In 1947, he was appointed a curator at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and he continued to work there until his...
listed all three among the many synonyms
Synonym (taxonomy)
In scientific nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that is or was used for a taxon of organisms that also goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linnaeus was the first to give a scientific name to the Norway spruce, which he called Pinus abies...
of "Oryzomys laticeps" (currently more narrowly defined as Hylaeamys laticeps
Hylaeamys laticeps
Hylaeamys laticeps, also known as the Atlantic Forest Oryzomys or Large-headed Rice Rat, is a species of rodent in the genus Hylaeamys of family Cricetidae. It occurs in the Atlantic Forest region of southeastern Brazil...
) in a 1960 paper.
Edward Alphonso Goldman
Edward Alphonso Goldman
Edward Alphonso Goldman was an American zoologist. He worked extensively in Mexico with Edward William Nelson and described and revised many groups of mammals....
described Oryzomys bombycinus in 1912 from four specimens from Panama. He compared it to Oryzomys talamancae and placed it with the "Oryzomys laticeps group". Three years later, he described Oryzomys nitidus alleni from Costa Rica as a subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
of Oryzomys nitidus, without mentioning bombycinus. He revised Oryzomys of North America in 1918 and recognized Oryzomys bombycinus as the only member of its own group, with alleni as a subspecies distinguished by the proportions of the skull. He also mentioned that the group occurred in Ecuador and indicated that O. bombycinus probably reached Colombia. Goldman considered the group to be similar to O. talamancae, but suggested that bombycinus and alleni might only be subspecies of O. nitidus. In 1939, Oliver Pearson added a third subspecies, O. b. orinus, from eastern Panama, and in 1966 the species was first recorded from Colombia. Ronald Pine reviewed Oryzomys bombycinus in 1971, when 59 specimens of it were known, and first recorded the species from Nicaragua and Ecuador. He kept the three described subspecies—alleni from Nicaragua to western Panama, bombycinus from central Panama, and orinus from eastern Panama to Ecuador.
Alfred Gardner and James Patton suggested in 1976 that Allen's O. rivularis may be the same species as O. bombycinus. They considered O. bolivaris as probably the same as O. nitidus and listed castaneus as a synonym of O. capito (equivalent to modern Hylaeamys megacephalus and closely related species plus Transandinomys talamancae). In 1984, Benshoof and colleagues reported the first record of Oryzomys bombycinus from Honduras. Guy Musser
Guy Musser
Guy Graham Musser is an American zoologist. His main research field is the subfamily Murinae, in which he has described many new species.Musser was born in Salt Lake City, Utah...
and Marina Williams reviewed O. talamancae in 1985 and included O. castaneus as one of its synonyms, though without having examined the holotype
Holotype
A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described. It is either the single such physical example or one of several such, but explicitly designated as the holotype...
. In the 1993 second edition of Mammal Species of the World
Mammal Species of the World
Mammal Species of the World, now in its 3rd edition, is a standard reference work in zoology giving descriptions and bibliographic data for the known species of mammals.An updated Third Edition of Mammal Species of the World was published late in 2005:...
, Musser and Michael Carleton used the name Oryzomys bolivaris for the species previously known as O. bombycinus, and in 1998, Musser and colleagues fully documented the allocation of the names bolivaris, castaneus, rivularis, bombycinus, alleni, and orinus to the same species, Oryzomys bolivaris. They noted its similarity to O. talamancae, but did not attempt to determine phylogenetic relationships among the species they discussed. In their limited material, they found geographic variation within the species inconsequential and they recognized no subspecies.
In 2006, Marcelo Weksler published a phylogenetic
Phylogenetics
In biology, phylogenetics is the study of evolutionary relatedness among groups of organisms , which is discovered through molecular sequencing data and morphological data matrices...
analysis of Oryzomyini
Oryzomyini
Oryzomyini is a tribe of rodents in the subfamily Sigmodontinae of family Cricetidae. It includes about 120 species in about thirty genera, distributed from the eastern United States to the southernmost parts of South America, including many offshore islands...
("rice rats"), the tribe to which Oryzomys is allocated, using morphological and DNA sequence
DNA sequence
The sequence or primary structure of a nucleic acid is the composition of atoms that make up the nucleic acid and the chemical bonds that bond those atoms. Because nucleic acids, such as DNA and RNA, are unbranched polymers, this specification is equivalent to specifying the sequence of...
data. His results showed species of Oryzomys dispersed across Oryzomyini and suggested that most species in the genus should be allocated to new genera. Later in the same year, he, together with Alexandre Percequillo and Robert Voss, named ten new genera for these species, including Transandinomys
Transandinomys
Transandinomys is a genus of rodents in the tribe Oryzomyini of family Cricetidae. It includes two species—T. bolivaris and T. talamancae—found in forests from Honduras in Central America south and east to southwestern Ecuador and northwestern Venezuela in northern South America...
, which has Oryzomys talamancae (now Transandinomys talamancae) as its type species
Type species
In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...
. They also included Oryzomys bolivaris in Transandinomys, so that it is now named Transandinomys bolivaris, although it had not been included in Weksler's phylogenetic study. The two species are morphologically similar, but they could identify only one synapomorphy
Synapomorphy
In cladistics, a synapomorphy or synapomorphic character is a trait that is shared by two or more taxa and their most recent common ancestor, whose ancestor in turn does not possess the trait. A synapomorphy is thus an apomorphy visible in multiple taxa, where the trait in question originates in...
(shared-derived trait) for them: very long superciliary vibrissae (whiskers above the eyes). Transandinomys is one of about 30 genera in Oryzomyini, a diverse assemblage of American rodents of over a hundred species, and on higher taxonomic levels in the subfamily Sigmodontinae
Sigmodontinae
The subfamily Sigmodontinae is one of the most diverse groups of mammals. It includes New World rats and mice, with at least 376 species. Many authorities include the Neotominae and Tylomyinae as part of a larger definition of Sigmodontinae. When those genera are included, the species count...
of family Cricetidae
Cricetidae
The Cricetidae are a family of rodents in the large and complex superfamily Muroidea. It includes true hamsters, voles, lemmings, and New World rats and mice...
, along with hundreds of other species of mainly small rodents.
Various authors have used the common name
Common name
A common name of a taxon or organism is a name in general use within a community; it is often contrasted with the scientific name for the same organism...
"long-whiskered rice rat" for this species, but several other names have been proposed. In 1918, Goldman named O. bombycinus bombycinus the "Long-Haired Rice Rat" and O. b. alleni the "Allen Rice Rat". Musser and Carleton, writing in the 2005 third edition of Mammal Species of the World, used "Long-whiskered Oryzomys", the 2009 IUCN Red List gave "Bolivar Rice Rat", and Thomas Lee and colleagues used "Long-whiskered Trans-Andean Rice Rat" in 2008.
Description
| Region | nNumber of specimens measured. In some samples, the number varies by measurement. | Head and body | Tail | Hindfoot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicaragua | 5 | 108.2 (99–119) | 115.2 (99–126) | 28.8 (27–32) |
| Costa Rica, western Panama |
9–13 | 118.7 (103–134) | 113.2 (96–125) | 30.3 (27–33) |
| Central Panama | 13–15 | 120.7 (111–140) | 120.8 (111–130) | 30.0 (27–33) |
| Eastern Panama | 5 | 116.8 (107–125) | 117.6 (109–126) | 28.0 (25–29) |
| Colombia | 8 | 127.4 (115–141) | 121.3 (100–135) | 30.5 (29–32) |
| Ecuador | 8–9 | 119.4 (111–133) | 114.8 (100–127) | 29.7 (28–32) |
| Measurements are in millimeters and in the form "average (minimum–maximum)". | ||||
Transandinomys bolivaris is a medium-sized rice rat with very long superciliary vibrissae (more than 50 mm (2.0 in) long and extending well beyond the ears when laid back against the head). According to Fiona Reid's Mammals of Southeastern Mexico & Central America, it is distinguishable from any similarly sized rice rats by the length of these whiskers; T. talamancae also has long superciliary vibrissae, but not as long as in T. bolivaris. In both species, the mystacial vibrissae (above the mouth) are also long and extend beyond the ears when laid back, but they are again much longer in T. bolivaris. The vibrissae are mostly dark, but translucent at the tips. Handleyomys alfaroi, a rice rat with which young T. bolivaris are often confused, is much smaller. In T. bolivaris, the cheeks may be light gray, buff, or reddish. The ears are dark brown to black and are sparsely haired.
The fur, which is soft, dense, and thick, is dark brown to gray on the upperparts, grading to black on the midback and yellowish brown on the sides. The underparts are sharply different in color. There, the hairs are dark gray at their bases and white at the tips, so that the fur appears grayish white. The fur is shorter and darker than in T. talamancae and softer and thicker than in H. alfaroi. Young animals have darker, finer, and softer fur. Pine separated the subspecies alleni and orinus on the basis of their darker fur, but Musser and colleagues could not confirm this pattern and found paler and darker specimens within the same geographical regions.
The tail appears naked and is shorter than or about as long as the head and body; it is longer in T. talamancae. Its coloration is variable; it is dark brown above and at the sides and light brown and often white to a greater or smaller extent below, and in some specimens the tail has the same color above and below. The scales on the tail are smaller than in T. talamancae.
The forearms are dark gray. The forefeet are unpigmented and ungual tuft
Ungual tuft
In mammals, ungual tufts are tufts of hairs at the base of claws of the fore- and hindfeet. Their presence has been used as a character in cladistic studies of Cricetidae....
s of white hairs surround the equally unpigmented claws. The animal has long, narrow hindfeet, longer than in T. talamancae, with usually smooth soles (lacking squamae
Squamae
In some rodents, squamae are small tubercles resembling scales on the sole of the hindfeet. Among oryzomyine rodents, their development is variable; most have well-developed squamae, but in others they are indistinct or entirely absent. Delomys sublineatus and Peromyscus maniculatus also have...
, which are present in T. talamancae). The three middle digits are much longer than the outer two. Six pads are present on the sole. The upper surface and the sides of the hindfeet are white and appear naked, although short, white hairs are present; these hairs are longer in T. talamancae. Ungual tufts of long, white or gray hairs are present around the claws, which are short and lack pigment.
Head and body length is 100 to 140 mm (3.9 to 5.5 in), tail length 90 to 130 mm (3.5 to 5.1 in), hindfoot length 27 to 35 mm (1.1 to 1.4 in), ear length 16 to 21 mm (0.63 to 0.83 in), and body mass 39 to 75 g (1.4 to 2.6 oz). Females have four pairs of mammae, as usual in oryzomyines. Like most rice rats, T. bolivaris has twelve thoracic (chest) and seven lumbar vertebrae. A study in Costa Rica found that there are 58 chromosome
Chromosome
A chromosome is an organized structure of DNA and protein found in cells. It is a single piece of coiled DNA containing many genes, regulatory elements and other nucleotide sequences. Chromosomes also contain DNA-bound proteins, which serve to package the DNA and control its functions.Chromosomes...
s, including many that are large and have two arms, and the fundamental number of arms is 80 (2n = 58, FN = 80), a highly differentiated karyotype
Karyotype
A karyotype is the number and appearance of chromosomes in the nucleus of an eukaryotic cell. The term is also used for the complete set of chromosomes in a species, or an individual organism.p28...
. The karyotype of T. talamancae is variable, but has fewer chromosomes (34 to 54) and major arms (60 to 67). H. alfaroi has more chromosomes (60 to 62) and major arms (100 to 104).
Skull and teeth
The skull is relatively long and has a long, narrow rostrum (front region), broad interorbital regionInterorbital region
The interorbital region of the skull is located between the eyes, anterior to the braincase. The form of the interorbital region may exhibit significant variation between taxonomic groups....
(between the eyes) and narrow braincase with almost vertically oriented walls at the sides and behind. It differs from that of T. talamancae in various proportions. Although the subspecies previously recognized in "Oryzomys bombycinus" have been separated by small differences in skull features, Pine rejected these on the basis of his much larger samples. Musser and colleagues agreed, but noted that Colombian animals appeared to have larger skulls. The zygomatic plate
Zygomatic plate
In rodent anatomy, the zygomatic plate is a bony plate derived from the flattened front part of the zygomatic arch . At the back, it connects to the front root of the zygomatic arch, and at the top it is connected to the rest of the skull via the antorbital bridge. It is part of the maxillary...
s are broad and the zygomatic arch
Zygomatic arch
The zygomatic arch or cheek bone is formed by the zygomatic process of temporal bone and the temporal process of the zygomatic bone , the two being united by an oblique suture; the tendon of the Temporalis passes medial to the arch to gain insertion into the coronoid process...
es (cheekbones) behind them are nearly parallel to each other. The margins of the interorbital region contain prominent beads, which extend to the braincase as temporal ridges; these are usually less well-developed in T. talamancae. Unlike in T. talamancae and H. alfaroi, the parietal bone
Parietal bone
The parietal bones are bones in the human skull which, when joined together, form the sides and roof of the cranium. Each bone is roughly quadrilateral in form, and has two surfaces, four borders, and four angles. It is named from the Latin pariet-, wall....
is usually limited to the roof of the braincase and does not extend to the sides.
The incisive foramina
Incisive foramen
The fossa incisiva is an opening in the bone of the oral hard palate where blood vessels and nerves may pass. There are four of these openings in the incisive fossa.-Formation:...
, which perforate the front part of the palate
Palate
The palate is the roof of the mouth in humans and other mammals. It separates the oral cavity from the nasal cavity. A similar structure is found in crocodilians, but, in most other tetrapods, the oral and nasal cavities are not truly separate. The palate is divided into two parts, the anterior...
, do not extend between the molars
Molar (tooth)
Molars are the rearmost and most complicated kind of tooth in most mammals. In many mammals they grind food; hence the Latin name mola, "millstone"....
. The palate ends beyond the third molars and is perforated by posterolateral palatal pits
Posterolateral palatal pits
In anatomy, posterolateral palatal pits are gaps at the sides of the back of the bony palate, near the last molars. Posterolateral palatal pits are present, in various degrees of development, in several members of the rodent family Cricetidae...
there. Behind it, the roof of the mesopterygoid fossa is perforated by poorly developed sphenopalatine vacuities
Sphenopalatine vacuities
In rodents, sphenopalatine vacuities are perforations of the roof of the mesopterygoid fossa, the open space behind the palate, in between the parapterygoid fossae. They may perforate the presphenoid or basisphenoid bone...
. The auditory bullae, which house the inner ear, are large. Usually, the mastoid bone lacks openings (fenestrae), which are present in T. talamancae. The pattern of the arteries
Artery
Arteries are blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart. This blood is normally oxygenated, exceptions made for the pulmonary and umbilical arteries....
in the head is primitive, as indicated by the condition of various foramina
Foramen
In anatomy, a foramen is any opening. Foramina inside the body of humans and other animals typically allow muscles, nerves, arteries, veins, or other structures to connect one part of the body with another.-Skull:...
(openings) and grooves in the skull.
The mandible
Mandible
The mandible pronunciation or inferior maxillary bone forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth in place...
(lower jaw) looks chunky and has a long condyloid process
Condyloid process
The condyloid process is part of the mandible and is thicker than the coronoid, and consists of two portions: the condyle, and the constricted portion which supports it, the neck.-Condyle :...
at its back; that of T. talamancae is more slender. The capsular process
Capsular process
In rodents, the capsular process or projection is a bony capsule that contains the root of the lower incisor. It is visible on the labial side of the mandible as a raising in the bone...
, a projection at the back of the jaw which houses the root of the lower incisor
Incisor
Incisors are the first kind of tooth in heterodont mammals. They are located in the premaxilla above and mandible below.-Function:...
, is poorly developed.
The incisors are large and ungrooved. Their enamel
Tooth enamel
Tooth enamel, along with dentin, cementum, and dental pulp is one of the four major tissues that make up the tooth in vertebrates. It is the hardest and most highly mineralized substance in the human body. Tooth enamel is also found in the dermal denticles of sharks...
is orange, but paler on the lowers. The orientation of the upper incisors is opisthodont, with the cutting edge oriented backwards. The molars are brachydont
Brachydont
Brachydont is a type of dentition characterized by low-crowned teeth, as opposed to high-crowned, hypsodont teeth. Human teeth are brachydont.-External links:*http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/topics/mammal_anatomy/tooth_diversity.html...
(low-crowned) and have two rows of main cusps separated by deep valleys and complemented by a network of crests and smaller cusps. The first upper molar is broader than in T. talamancae. As in this species, but unlike in many other rice rats, including H. alfaroi, the mesoflexus on the second upper molar, which separates the paracone
Paracone
An atmospheric reentry or spaceflight mission abort concept using an inflatable cone.A notable feature of the paracone concept is that it facilitates an abort throughout the entire flight profile....
(one of the main cusps) from the mesoloph (an accessory crest), is not divided in two by an enamel bridge. The hypoflexid on the second lower molar, the main valley between the cusps, is very long, extending more than halfway across the tooth; in this trait, it is similar to T. talamancae but unlike H. alfaroi. Each of the upper molars has three roots (two on the outer and one on the inner side) and each of the lowers has two (one at the front and another at the back).
Distribution, ecology, and behavior
Transandinomys bolivaris is an uncommon species. Its known distribution extends from northeastern Honduras, on the Caribbean seaboard, through eastern Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, into coastal western Colombia and northwestern and west-central Ecuador. It has been found near sea level and the upper altitudinal records are at nearly 1500 m (4900 ft) in Panama and 1800 m (5900 ft) in Ecuador. This distribution coincides with that of the humid Transandean forest. It generally occurs in areas with mean temperatures above 16 °C (61 °F) and annual rainfall of 4000 to 6000 mm (160 to 240 in), prefers mid-elevation forests (600 to 900 m; 2000 to 3000 ft), and often occurs near water. The actual range of this species may be expected to extend further north and west, perhaps into VeracruzVeracruz
Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave , is one of the 31 states that, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided in 212 municipalities and its capital city is...
, southern Mexico, and western Venezuela, where it has not yet been recorded. Omar Linares mentioned a possible record from the Lake Maracaibo
Lake Maracaibo
Lake Maracaibo is a large brackish bay in Venezuela at . It is connected to the Gulf of Venezuela by Tablazo Strait at the northern end, and fed by numerous rivers, the largest being the Catatumbo. It is commonly considered a lake rather than a bay or lagoon, and at 13,210 km² it would be the...
region of northwestern Venezuela in 1998. Its range is similar to that of various other rainforest animals, including the semiplumbeous hawk
Semiplumbeous Hawk
The Semiplumbeous Hawk is a species of bird of prey in the Accipitridae family.It is found in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, and Panama. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests....
(Leucopternis semiplumbeus), the rice rats Sigmodontomys alfari and S. aphrastus, the spiny rats Proechimys semispinosus and Hoplomys gymnurus, and the opossum Marmosa zeledoni. T. talamancae and H. alfaroi are often found in the same localities as T. bolivaris, but also occur in other areas.
Little is known of its biology. The species mainly lives on the ground, but some young animals have been taken in vegetation, up to 1.5 m (5 ft) above the ground. It is usually captured "under logs, around the roots of large trees, or among rocks along streams." Two females with four embryos each have been caught in Panama in June, one with two in Nicaragua in September, and one with four in Costa Rica in December. A very young specimen was trapped in Costa Rica in March. One pregnant female was herself still in juvenile fur. Four species of mite
Mite
Mites, along with ticks, are small arthropods belonging to the subclass Acari and the class Arachnida. The scientific discipline devoted to the study of ticks and mites is called acarology.-Diversity and systematics:...
s have been found on T. bolivaris in Panama (Gigantolaelaps gilmorei, G. oudemansi, Laelaps pilifer, and Haemolaelaps glasgowi), two chigger
Chigger
A chigger or harvest mite is a mite in the family Trombiculidae that lives in North American forests and grasslands.Chigger may also refer to:...
s (Leptotrombidium panamensis and Pseudoschoengastia bulbifera), and two flea
Flea
Flea is the common name for insects of the order Siphonaptera which are wingless insects with mouthparts adapted for piercing skin and sucking blood...
s (Polygenis roberti and Polygenis klagesi).
Conservation status
The 2009 IUCN Red ListIUCN Red List
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , founded in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the world's main authority on the conservation status of species...
lists T. bolivaris as "Least Concern
Least Concern
Least Concern is an IUCN category assigned to extant taxon or lower taxa which have been evaluated but do not qualify for any other category. As such they do not qualify as threatened, Near Threatened, or Conservation Dependent...
", as it is a widely distributed species with a presumably large population that is found in numerous protected area
Protected area
Protected areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognised natural, ecological and/or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the enabling laws of each country or the regulations of the international...
s. However, habitat destruction
Habitat destruction
Habitat destruction is the process in which natural habitat is rendered functionally unable to support the species present. In this process, the organisms that previously used the site are displaced or destroyed, reducing biodiversity. Habitat destruction by human activity mainly for the purpose of...
by deforestation may pose a threat.
Literature cited
- Allen, J.A. 1901. New South American Muridae and a new Metachirus. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 14:405–412.
- Benshoof, L., Yates, T.L. and Froehlich, J.W. 1984. Noteworthy records of mammals from eastern Honduras (subscription required). The Southwestern Naturalist 29(4):511–514.
- Brennan, J.M. and Yunker, C.E. 1966. The chiggers of Panama (Acarina: Trombiculidae). Pp. 221–266 in Wenzel, R.L. and Tipton, V.J. (eds.). Ectoparasites of Panama. Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History.
- Duff, A. and Lawson, A. 2004. Mammals of the World: A checklist. New Haven: A & C Black. ISBN 071366021X.
- Gardner, A.L. and Patton, J.L. 1976. Karyotypic variation in oryzomyine rodents (Cricetinae) with comments on chromosomal evolution in the Neotropical cricetine complex. Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology, Louisiana State University 49:1–48.
- Goldman, E.A. 1912. Descriptions of twelve new species and subspecies of mammals from Panama. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 56(no. 36):1–11.
- Goldman, E.A. 1915. Five new rice rats of the genus Oryzomys from Middle America. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 28:127–130.
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