Nephelomys albigularis, also known as the White-throated Oryzomys or Tomes's Rice Rat, is a species of 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 Nephelomys

Nephelomys

Nephelomys is a genus of South American oryzomyine rodents found in the Andes from Bolivia to Venezuela, with a westward extension into the mountains of Costa Rica...

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...

. Described in 1860, it was the first Nephelomys species to be discovered. It was originally described in the defunct genus Hesperomys

Hesperomys

Hesperomys is an obsolete genus of American rodents. It was initially broadly defined to include most of the cricetid rodents of the Americas, except the Arvicolinae, but later became restricted to the members of the modern genus Calomys; the latter name has been in use for this genus instead of...

as Hesperomys albigularis and considered related to the much smaller H. longicaudatus (currently Oligoryzomys longicaudatus). By 1894, it was placed in 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...

, as Oryzomys albigularis, and associated with what is now Nephelomys meridensis. In the early 1960s, the scope of the species was considerably expanded to include most of the species that are now in Nephelomys, as well as a single name, boliviae, that is currently a synonym

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 Euryoryzomys nitidus. From 1976 on, several of these were reinstated as separate species.

In 2006, a phylogenetic analysis by Marcelo Weksler of the oryzomyine

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...

 tribe, in which both Oryzomys and Nephelomys are classified, provided strong evidence that Oryzomys as recognized then was a polyphyletic

Polyphyly

A polyphyletic group is one whose members' last common ancestor is not a member of the group.For example, the group consisting of warm-blooded animals is polyphyletic, because it contains both mammals and birds, but the most recent common ancestor of mammals and birds was cold-blooded...

 genus. O. albigularis and one of its former synonym

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...

s, O. levipes, were included; they consistently clustered into a single group within a larger group that included species now placed in Hylaeamys

Hylaeamys

Hylaeamys is a genus of South American oryzomyine rodents found principally in humid forested areas east of the Andes. The species in this genus have historically been placed in Oryzomys. They are most closely related to Euryoryzomys, Transandinomys, Nephelomys, Oecomys, and Handleyomys, and most...

, Euryoryzomys

Euryoryzomys

Euryoryzomys is a genus of rodents in the tribe Oryzomyini of family Cricetidae. It includes six species, which are distributed in South America. Until 2006, its members were included in the genus Oryzomys, but they are not closely related to the type species of that genus, and therefore they were...

, 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...

, Handleyomys

Handleyomys

Handleyomys is a genus of Central and South American rodents in the tribe Oryzomyini of family Cricetidae. It was first described in 2002 to include two species from the Colombian Andes which were previously included in distinct and unrelated genera, Aepeomys and Oryzomys, but which turned out to...

, and Oecomys

Oecomys

Oecomys is a genus of rodent within the tribe Oryzomyini of family Cricetidae. It contains about 17 species, which live in trees and are distributed across forested parts of South America, extending into Panama and Trinidad.-Literature cited:...

. Accordingly, the group of species around O. albigularis was reclassified into a new genus, Nephelomys, with albigularis 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...

. Since then, the species has been known as Nephelomys albigularis. Of the seven synonyms still placed under N. albigularis in 2005, five were reclassified as separate species, N. childi

Nephelomys childi

Nephelomys childi is a species of rodent in the genus Nephelomys of family Cricetidae. The type locality is at Bogotá, Colombia, and the type locality of its junior synonym, oconnelli, is at a place known as Buenavista, about southeast of Bogotá. It was named after Mr. George D...

, N. maculiventer

Nephelomys maculiventer

Nephelomys maculiventer is a species of rodent in the genus Nephelomys of family Cricetidae. The type locality is in Colombia, at "Sierra El Libano, alt. 6000 ft, Santa Marta District". It was originally described on the basis of 47 specimens, including 34 from Sierra El Libano and 13 from...

, N. moerex

Nephelomys moerex

Nephelomys moerex is a species of rodent in the genus Nephelomys of family Cricetidae. The type locality is at Mindo in western Ecuador, where it has been recorded together with three other rodents of the oryzomyine group, Sigmodontomys aphrastus, Mindomys hammondi, and Handleyomys alfaroi, as well...

, N. pectoralis

Nephelomys pectoralis

Nephelomys pectoralis is a species of rodent in the genus Nephelomys of family Cricetidae. Its type locality is west of the city of Popayán, Cauca Department, Colombia, at an altitude of . American zoologist Joel Asaph Allen first described it in 1912 on the basis of 112 specimens from several...

, and N. pirrensis

Nephelomys pirrensis

Nephelomys pirrensis, also known as the Mount Pirre Rice Rat, is a species of rodent in the genus Nephelomys of family Cricetidae. Its type locality is at Mount Pirri or Pirre in eastern Panama, at an altitude of , and it has also been recorded on Mount Tacarcuna.N. pirrensis is a relatively large...

, one (oconnelli) was placed under N. childi, and the last (villosus) was not mentioned.

Before the other five species were recognized as separate, it was recorded as being distributed from northern Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

 via the Andes

Andes

The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...

 of Ecuador

Ecuador

Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

 and Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

 into eastern Panama

Panama

Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...

 and northwestern Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

. No revised distribution has been published taking into account the recognition of the other species. These have type localities in Panama, Colombia, and western Ecuador; the type locality of N. albigularis itself is also in Ecuador. It is known from montane forest at altitudes of 900 to 3300 m. It is nocturnal and omnivorous.

Literature cited

• Musser, G.G. and Carleton, M.D. 2005. Superfamily Muroidea. Pp. 894–1531 in Wilson, D.E. and Reeder, D.M. (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
• Reid, F., Samudio, R., Tirira, D., Boada, C., Weksler, M., Anderson, R.P., Rivas, B., Delgado, C. and Gómez-Laverde, M. 2008. . In IUCN. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved on April 24, 2009.
• Thomas, O. 1894. Descriptions of some new Neotropical Muridae. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (6)14:346–365.
• Tomes, R.F. 1860. Notes on a third collection of Mammalia made by Mr. Fraser in the republic of Ecuador. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 28:260–268.
• Weksler, M. 2006. Phylogenetic relationships of oryzomyine rodents (Muroidea: Sigmodontinae): separate and combined analyses of morphological and molecular data. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 296:1–149.
• Weksler, M., A. R. Percequillo, and R.S. Voss. 2006. Ten new genera of oryzomyine rodents (Cricetidae: Sigmodontinae). American Museum Novitates 3537:1–29.