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A new species of mountain viscacha, Lagidium ahuacaense, is described based on a specimen and a mitochondrial cytochrome b (cyt b) sequence obtained from a second individual from Cerro El Ahuaca, Loja Province, Ecuador. In several external and craniodental measurements, the new species differed significantly from the three congeneric species (greatest length of skull, basilar, nasal length, palatilar length, length of diastema, least interorbital breadth, breadth of rostrum and skull height). The cyt b sequence of the Ecuadorean viscacha differed by 14 exclusive nucleotide substitutions from all other sequences of Lagidium examined. Kimura 2-parameter (K2P) genetic distances of the Ecuadorean sequence were 8.1–11.0% to L. peruanum, 7.9–9.9% to L. viscacia and 9.7% to L. wolffsohni. The single known population of the newly described species may not comprise more than a few dozen individuals and warrants urgent conservation actions.

Una nUeva especie de MUsaraña del género Cryptotis poMel 1848 (MaMMalia: soricoMorpha: soricidae) de ecUador y estatUs taxonoMico de Cryptotis equatoris thoMas (1912) pablo a. Moreno cárdenas 1,2 lUis albUja v.

A distinctive new species of sturnirine bat, Sturnira (Sturnira) koopmanhilli, new species (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae: Stenodermatinae), is described from 49 specimens collected in the Pacific drainage of the western Andes, at 300-2000 m in western Ecuador and Colombia. This yellow-shouldered bat is endemic to this Chocoan region where it is known from nine localities in Ecuador (Esmeraldas and Chimborazo) and Colombia (Chocó, Valle del Cauca, and Nariño). This moderately large Sturnira species (forearm length, 48.1-52.4 mm) is compared with Sturnira mordax (Goodwin, 1938) (forearm length, 43.0-49.2) and Sturnira ludovici Anthony, 1924 (forearm length, 43.9-49.5). Salient characters that distinguish the new species from these two cogeners include a bicolored appearance of dorsal fur, recessed hypoglossal foramina, presence of a sulcus on posterior faces of upper canines, and teeth P2 > M2. Teeth I1 and i1 are protrudent and robust, which set the new species apart from other Sturnira species. Spacing between teeth P1-M3 and p1-m3 is present in the new bat and with the subgenus Corvira. The new species is placed in the subgenus Sturnira.

A first step in protecting groups of similarly structured organisms is to place them into discrete taxa. Molecular genetics and phylogeny allow us to rebuild the evolutionary history of these taxa. The Neotropics has roughly 34% of Earth's primate diversity. However, the systematics of Neotropical primates is complex and controversial. The untufted (gracile) capuchins are traditionally classified as four species: Cebus albifrons, C. capucinus, C. olivaceus, and C. kaapori. Of these, Cebus albifrons has confusing intraspecific systematics with a large number of fragmented and isolated populations throughout its geographical distribution, and up to 13 morphological subspecies. The number of taxa of this species in Ecuador, some areas of northern and eastern Colombia, and Trinidad Island is particularly debated. Primatologists have defined two taxa of C. albifrons in Ecuador: a trans-Andean population: C. a. aequatorialis (or C. aequatorialis) and a cis-Andean population: C. a. yuracus (or C. yuracus). To better understand the systematics of this species, we sequenced the mitogenomes of 136 Cebus albifrons, two Cebus olivaceus, and one Cebus kaapori. Our phylogenetic analyses revealed at least nine significantly different haplogroups of C. albifrons in Ecuador, four of which contained exemplars from both the trans-Andean Pacific Ecuador and the cis-Andean Ecuadorian Amazon. The splits of these Ecuadorian haplogroups, and the initial diversification within them, occurred during the Middle to Late Pliocene and the beginning of the Pleistocene. Individuals we analyzed from Vichada Department in eastern Colombia were genetically distinct from other groups of C. albifrons, agreeing with morphological studies which consider it a full subspecies (C. a. albifrons). Phylogenetic analyses showed two different gracile capuchin taxa on Trinidad Island: C. a. trininatis and C. o. brunneus. We conclude that a large portion of the gracile capuchin taxa form a unique species with a complex of populations and subspecies. The species has conserved its reproductive integrity by repeated episodes of reticulation and high levels of gene flow.

During a faunal survey in the foothills of the Ecuadoran Andes southwest of the Cordillera del Cóndor, a mouse of uncertain affinities was taken in a fishing net. Various external characters suggested that it was a member of the genus Rhagomys, previously unrecorded in Ecuador. Comparisons with the external, cranial, and dental morphology both of Rhagomys rufescens and R. longilingua identified a number of unique characters, including its long, narrow rostrum and incisive foramina and the reduced anterolingual conule on its M1 procingulum. We describe the mouse as a new species of Rhagomys; both its morphology and molecular analyses suggest that it is sister to R. longilingua. This record of Rhagomys in southern Ecuador extends the known distribution of the genus 700 km northward and adds yet another genus and species to Ecuador’s extensive list of rodent species.

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