New records of Rhagomys rufescens (Rodentia: Sigmodontinae) in the Atlantic forest of Brazil

Abstract

Since it was trapped in the XIX th century, Rhagomys rufescens has been considered a rare endangered sigmodontine rodent and an endemic species of the Atlantic forest. Only a handful of vouchers of this taxon were known by Thomas, 1886. Recently, eight new individuals were collected, providing new geographical, morphological and phylogenetic (based on molecular evidence) information on this species. In the present work we report the southernmost occurrence record for R. rufescens at Indaial, Santa Catarina State, with the largest collected series of this species, the northernmost occurrence record at Santa Teresa, Espírito Santo State, and new records from Poços de Caldas, Minas Gerais State, from Ibiúna and Ribeirão Grande, São Paulo State.

A new genus and species of rodent from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest (Rodentia: Cricetidae: Sigmodontinae: Oryzomyini), with comments on oryzomyine biogeography

“…Steiner‐Souza and S. Althoff trapped small mammals in the Mono region for 16 consecutive months, from February 2005 to June 2006. Their sampling efforts included conventional traps (small and medium wire mesh live traps) set on the ground, double door Havarhart traps set employing a catwalk method, and pitfall traps (25 litter buckets) irregularly set throughout their study (see Steiner‐Souza et al ., 2008). Sixteen specimens of D. albimaculatus were caught during the field work with catwalk traps during the months of August and September 2004 (two males and one specimen with undetermined sex), from March to July 2005 (six males, five females, and one specimen with undetermined sex) and in June 2006 (one male).…”

“…Phylogenetic studies on the genus Akodon (by Pardiñas et al ., 2005; Gonçalves et al ., 2007; Smith & Patton, 2007) recovered Atlantic Forest species of the Akodon cursor group (including A. cursor , Akodon montensis , Akodon mystax , Akodon paranaensis , and Akodon reigi ) as the sister group to the Andean Akodon boliviensis group (namely A. boliviensis , Akodon fumeus , Akodon juninensis , Akodon kofordi , Akodon lutescens , Akodon spegazzinii , Akodon subfuscus ). Another sigmodontine genus with an Atlantic Forest‐Andean connection is Rhagomys with two species: Rhagomys rufescens (that occurs from Santa Catarina to Espírito Santo; Percequillo et al ., 2004; Steiner‐Souza et al ., 2008), and the recently described Rhagomys longilingua (from the eastern slope of the Andes from Peru and Bolívia; Luna & Patterson, 2003; D'Elía et al ., 2006; Villalpando, Vargas & Salazar‐Bravo, 2006). The former species inhabits lowland and montane humid forests in the Serra do Mar, from sea level to nearly 1100 m, whereas the latter is restricted to the lowland humid, montane, and cloud forests of the Bolivian and Peruvian Andes, from 450 to 2100 m. The general congruence of biogeographical patterns amongst birds, frogs, and rodents highlights a possible past connection between eastern (Atlantic Forest) and western South America (Andean life zones) small terrestrial vertebrate communities, which subsequently diverged into the present lineages.…”

“…Probably at least some of other less-explored regions of South America still harbour undescribed endemic taxa. The present biological diversity of the tribe, estimated as 120 extant or recently extinct species in 31 genera D'Elía & Pardiñas, 2007;Percequillo et al, 2008), will probably increase with further taxonomic and systematic work in the next several decades. Considering our need for better knowledge of species diversity and distribution to implement conservation policies (Wheeler, Raven & Wilson, 2004), inventory and taxonomic studies should be stimulated in the next few years.…”

“…In the last decade, 12 sigmodontines new to science have been formally described: Abrawayaomys chebezi Pardiñas, Teta & D'Elía, 2009; Akodon paranaensis Christoff et al ., 2000; Akodon philipmyersi Pardiñas et al ., 2005; Akodon reigi González, Langguth & Oliveira, 1999; Brucepattersonius paradisus , Brucepattersonius guarani , Brucepattersonius misionensis Mares & Braun, 2000; Cerradomys langguthi and Cerradomys vivoi Percequillo, Hingst‐Zaher & Bonvicino, 2008; Hylaeamys seuanezi (Weksler, Geise & Cerqueira, 1999); Juliomys rimofrons Oliveira & Bonvicino, 2002; and Juliomys ossitenuis Costa et al ., 2007. In addition, some species previously known only from the late 19 th and the early 20 th centuries have recently been reported again, such as Abrawayaomys ruschii (see Pereira et al ., 2008), Bibimys labiosus (see Paglia et al ., 1995; D'Elía, Pardiñas & Myers, 2005; Gonçalves et al ., 2005), Blarinomys breviceps (see Silva et al ., 2003), Phaenomys ferrugineus (see Bonvicino et al ., 2001), Rhagomys rufescens (see Percequillo, Gonçalves & Oliveira, 2004; Steiner‐Souza et al ., 2008), and Juliomys pictipes (see Pardiñas et al ., 2008; de la Sancha et al ., 2009). These discoveries are a direct consequence of increased inventory efforts, new collecting techniques (e.g.…”

The genus Rhagomys (Thomas 1917) (Rodentia, Cricetidae, Sigmodontinae) in South America: morphological considerations, geographic distribution and zoogeographic comments

“…After nearly a century of marginal appearance in the Sigmodontinae literature (Musser and Carleton 2005), the genus Rhagomys (Thomas 1917) has been the focus of considerable attention over the past decade. Owing to new inventories and sampling techniques, several specimens have been obtained that provide important information on the diversity of the genus (Luna and Patterson 2003), geographical distribution and species-specific ranges (Pinheiro et al 2004, Villalpando et al 2006, Steiner-Souza et al 2008, as well as on the phylogenetic position of this taxon within the subfamily (Percequillo et al 2004, D'Elia et al 2006.…”