Search

The genus Andalgalomys Williams and Mares, 1978 includes three species of small phyllotine rodents: Andalgalomys olrogi Williams and Mares, 1978; Andalgalomys pearsoni (Myers, 1977); and Andalgalomys roigi Mares and Braun, 1996. These mice are distributed from southeastern Bolivia and western Paraguay to west-central Argentina, occupying mostly semi-desert environments, such as the Dry Chaco and High Monte. Available phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequences suggests that Andalgalomys olrogi and Andalgalomys roigi, which also share the same diploid complement, constitute the same species. We tested this hypothesis through a qualitative and quantitative morphological approach, in order to integrate different lines of evidence. Based on the largest sample analyzed to date, we found that some of the supposedly diagnostic traits of both Andalgalomys olrogi and Andalgalomys roigi (e.g., dorsal coloration) are more variable than previously documented. In addition, principal component analysis failed to separate Andalgalomys olrogi from Andalgalomys roigi in the multivariate space, although clearly segregate Andalgalomys pearsoni from these two taxa. Based on these findings, plus previous evidence, we consider Andalgalomys roigi as a junior synonym of Andalgalomys olrogi.

The genus Microcavia includes six species of terrestrial, medium-sized, living cavies that occupy arid to semiarid environments at both high and low elevations in western and southern South America. Among these, Microcavia shiptoni is one of the least known species, being recorded only at two isolated localities from northwestern Argentina. Genetic information and a detailed morphological characterization are lacking for this elusive species. In this work, we start filling these gaps by including M. shiptoni in a phylogenetic analysis based on mitochondrial DNA sequences that includes five of the six currently recognized species and place M. shiptoni as sister to M. niata in a clade of highland species. In addition, using both qualitative and quantitative morphological traits, we provided an emended diagnosis for this taxon and a key for the living species of the genus. Finally, we present, the first notes on the natural history of this species.

Oligoryzomys longicaudatus se distribuye por las laderas orientales y occidentales de los Andes en el extremo sur de Sudamérica. En el sur de Argentina presenta una distribución relativamente bien conocida, pero hacia el norte, en coincidencia con la existencia de poblaciones aparentemente discontinuas, sus límites geográficos no están bien establecidos. Durante una revisión de especímenes de Oligoryzomys depositados en la Colección Mamíferos Lillo registramos dos ejemplares provenientes de la provincia de San Luis que fueron asignados a esta especie a partir de comparaciones cuantitativas y cualitativas del cráneo. Sobre estos ejemplares, citamos por primera vez a la especie para esta provincia y el Chaco Seco, destacando la importancia del registro para el conocimiento de su distribución.

En 2021, Jayat et al. propusimos una nueva especie de roedor sigmodontino, nombrada Phyllotis pehuenche, para las poblaciones del complejo de especies de Phyllotis xanthopygus del sudoeste de la provincia de Mendoza y el oeste de la provincia de Neuquén, Argentina. La descripción formal de la especie, publicada en un material suplementario electrónico modificable, no cumple con los requerimientos establecidos en la enmienda sobre publicaciones electrónicas (ICZN 2012) de la Cuarta Edición del Código Internacional de Nomenclatura Zoológica (ICZN 1999), haciendo que el nombre no esté disponible. El objetivo de esta nota es cumplir con los requerimientos del código y hacer el nombre disponible. Aquí ofrecemos una versión resumida de la descripción original de esta especie. En esta nota, ofrecemos un tratamiento taxonómico para P. pehuenche, incluyendo su sinonimia, localidad tipo, holotipo y paratipos, proveyendo la etimología del epíteto específico, y ofreciendo una diagnosis para la especie y comentarios acerca de su distribución geográfica. Con toda la información provista, cumplimos con los lineamientos del Código Internacional de Nomenclatura Zoológica (ICZN 1999, 2012) haciendo el nombre disponible.

Félix de Azara describió varias especies de murciélagos en su trabajo seminal sobre los mamíferos del Paraguay en 1801. Uno de estos murciélagos, el chauve-souris septième o chauve-souris brun-blanchâtre fue utilizado por É. Geoffroy St-Hilaire (1806) para describir Vesp[ertilio]. villosissimus, un nombre que se aplica actualmente al murciélago escarchado gris del sur, Lasiurus (Aeorestes) villosissimus. Esta última, además, es la especie tipo de Aeorestes Fitzinger 1870. En esta contribución, a través de una reevaluación de la descripción proporcionada por Azara (1801), demostramos que el chauve-souris septième o chauve-souris brun-blanchâtre es claramente referible al subgénero Dasypterus W. Peters, 1870. La aplicación estricta de la regla de prioridad en este caso causaría una alteración nomenclatural considerable e indeseable, incluida la necesidad de sinonimizar Nycticejus Ega Gervais, 1856 bajo Vesp[ertilio]. villosissimus É. Geoffroy St-Hilaire, 1806 y la necesidad de un nuevo nombre genérico o subgenérico para los murciélagos escarchados grises. Por lo tanto, recomendamos la preservación del uso actual a través de la designación de un neotipo para Vesp[ertilio]. villosissimus É. Geoffroy St-Hilaire, 1806 y proponiendo una nueva especie tipo para el taxón Aeorestes Fitzinger, 1870.

Based on previously published molecular (mitochondrial) and herein provided morphological (qualitative and quantitative data) evidence, we describe a new species of leaf-eared mouse of the genus Phyllotis. The new species is morphometrically distinct when compared with other phylogenetically or geographically close species of Phyllotis, showing several quantitative differences in their external and craniodental characters (e.g., proportionally broader nasals and interorbital region, and proportionally smaller tympanic bullae). The new species is endemic to central Argentina, occurring on rocky grasslands at elevations of 650–2,800 m a.s.l. This is the only species of Phyllotis inhabiting the Central Sierras, a mountain system of medium elevation, isolated from the Andes by low elevation arid and semiarid environments.

Based on qualitative and quantitative morphological evidence, we describe a new species of Microcavia (Rodentia, Caviidae). The new species is characterized by a unique combination of morphological traits, that distinguished it from all others within the genus (i. e., upper incisors moderately proodont; palatal crest low, narrow anteriorly and expanded posteriorly; paraorbital process of the jugal small; sphenopalatine vacuities small, with their anterior border located behind the anterior half of the mesopterygoid fossa). The new species seems to be endemic from northwestern Argentina, where it occurs in open shrublands and grasslands >3,100 masl. With the description of this taxon, there are already four species of Microcavia that are distributed in the central Andes.

The genus Dasyprocta Illiger, 1811 includes at least 13 species of medium-sized caviomorph rodents, widely distributed from Mexico to northern Argentina. Despite being abundant, largely diurnal, and easily identifiable by their external traits, the taxonomy of this genus remains poorly understood. In this work, we reviewed the taxonomy of Dasyprocta along the Andes and adjoining lowland areas of the western Neotropics, including samples from Mexico to northern Argentina, with emphasis on two species largely confounded—sometimes considered as synonyms—during the last century: D. punctata Gray, 1842 and D. variegata Tschudi, 1845. In the construction of our taxonomic hypotheses, we use a purely morphological approach, emphasizing qualitative and quantitative cranial features and external traits (color patterns). The results of multivariate statistical analysis and differences in color patterns support the species-level validity of D. punctata and D. variegata. Within this latter nominal form, we also include those populations from northern Argentina and eastern Bolivia that recently were referred to D. azarae. Based on our results, D. punctata (including bellula, callida, candelensis, chiapensis, chocoensis, colombiana, dariensis, isthmica, nuchalis, richmondi, underwoodi, yucatanica, and zuliae) extends from southern Mexico to Colombia, Ecuador, northernmost Peru, and western Venezuela, while D. variegata (including azarae, boliviae, and yungarum) is distributed from south–central Peru and southwestern Brazil to Bolivia and northwestern Argentina.

Information on dietary ecology plays a key role in a wide array of biological research and conservation decisions, but its availability is biased towards large and charismatic taxa, whereas small mammals are underrepresented. Of the scarce publications on the Neotropical sigmodontine rodents, most are concentrated in central-eastern Argentina and, up until now, no revision of the totality of these data has been made available. In this work, we performed a thorough review of the dietary information from over 50 publications on 22 species, finding omissions and errors propagated up to the present time. This resulted in a robust database, the proposal of a posteriori dietary categories, and a list of the species that have been neglected in feeding ecology research. In turn, we used that database to test whether the patterns which associate diet and morphology in medium-sized and large mammals could be replicated in these small rodents, despite their overall generalist habits and the restrictions characteristic to their size. We found that larger species tend towards a low-protein diet. Additionally, we identified some stomach types that are restricted to specific diets. These results are consistent with the observations for larger species and shed light on the biology of small mammals.

Muroid rodents are the most species-rich superfamily of rodents occurring in Argentina. Increased fieldwork with these mammals depicts the need of adequate keys to identify species on the base of external characters. In this contribution we provide three keys (one for families and subfamilies, and another two for Sigmodontinae and Muridae, respectively) for all known species of Cricetidae and Muridae distributed in Argentina (42 genera and 110 species). In addition to the dichotomous keys, and as a way to facilitate the identification, we include for each species a brief description of its distribution and the main habitats where it occurs.

Global conservation of biodiversity is more important than ever before. The success of the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework and monitoring strategy will depend on the availability of reliable, information-rich biodiversity data. Natural science collections throughout the world are repositories for and stewards of primary biodiversity records, which they maintain and preserve in the long-term, and can contribute to biodiversity monitoring specifically at the species and genetic diversity levels. Accurate and up-to-date information about scientific collections as data providers and mediators lie at the core of Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) data (Wilkinson 2016). The visibility and discoverability provided by collections’ digital representations promote an institution’s, a country’s and a region’s wealth in biodiversity records and data; highlight human efforts and social networks for maintaining and providing access to high-quality physical and digital records; and form the basis for attribution and effective transaction managment implementing the CARE principles (Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, and Ethics; Carroll 2021). Providing powerful functionality, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) Registry of Scientific Collections (GRSciColl) is evolving into the global catalog for information on collections. The Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region is among the most biodiverse regions of the planet. Throughout the LAC region, a wealth of initiatives exists for describing, recording, protecting and managing biodiversity and biodiversity data. The region’s many collections, their scientists, staff and volunteers are crucial partners in these endeavors. A diversity of local to national and regional networks are active, fostering communication, support and capacity building. Last year, the Biodiversity Crisis Response Committee (BCRC) of the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) in cooperation with the GRSciColl team at GBIF, developed the concept and first materials for a Global Collections Network Campaign. In cooperation with the national GBIF Node, a pilot campaign was conducted in Ecuador. In addition, close connections were formed to the task group developing Latimer Core, TDWG’s upcoming collection description standard, the MaterialSample task group of Darwin Core, as well as the community developing the next-generation data infrastructure based on the Digital Extended Specimen concept (Hardisty et al. 2022) and open FAIR digital objects (Schultes and Wittenburg 2019), e.g. defined by the openDS standard. Building on the pilot campaign and continuing the collaboration with the GRSciColl team, a partnership endorsed by GBIF’s SPNHC node and led by two members of SPNHC’s BCRC was formed that includes biodiversity scientists, collections staff and GBIF national node managers from Argentina, Ecuador and Guatemala. Supported by the GBIF Capacity Enhancement Support Programme and starting in August 2022, the partnership has the goal to increase the number, coverage and density of high quality records available through GRSciColl, thereby providing visibility and improving the recognition of natural science collections existing within the three countries and the LAC region. The CESP project contributes towards the aim of the campaign to build step by step an equitable, inclusive and engaged Global Collections Network.

Northwestern Argentina (NWA) is a region characterized by a complex geomorphology, and encompasses six ecoregions in a relatively small area. The environmental heterogeneity of NWA and the sensitivity of small mammals towards environmental and landscape changes constitute a good scenario to assess the factors that influence small mammal diversity patterns in the region. We studied small mammal communities obtained from pellet samples in 24 localities of NWA. We identified 50 non-volant small mammal species and obtained topographic, climate and land cover variables. Our results show that small mammal communities respond to environmental factors at a regional scale. Such variations were explained in different proportions by the geographic position of the collecting sites, landscape and climate. Furthermore, the combined effect of these factors was the main determinant of species abundance patterns. Our results support the need of large-scale approaches to study communities, since the explanations of the observed patterns are simpler and more general. We emphasize the importance of considering the combined effect of different environmental predictors, which allows determining the amount of species variation that is spatially structured, and within that, the amount of variation related to the influence of the measured environmental variables.

Information from diversity inventories was used to study patterns of biodiversity and species distribution, to identify potential priority areas for conservation, and to guide future sampling efforts. In this context, we compiled information on non-volant small mammal communities from the high Andes (2000 m). Here, we present an open source dataset containing information on diversity (species composition, number of individuals captured), inventory design (type of traps, sampling efforts), and environment (habitat) for both unpublished and published information. This study covers 630 mammalian communities, geographically distributed throughout the Andes in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile. We compiled a total of 26,412 individual records belonging to 240 species; the order with greatest number of records was Rodentia (n = 25,319, 96.06%), followed by Didelphimorphia (n = 373, 1.42%), Eulipotyphla (n = 358, 1.36%) and Paucituberculata, (n = 307, 1.16%). Andean non-volant small mammal communities harbor a range from 1 to 17 species, with 93.06% of sites being composed of one to five species, 27.78% of sites with species richness varying from 6 to 10 species, and 4.17% sites composed of more than 10 species. Multiple sampling methods were used to survey non-volant small mammals; the most representative methods were snap-traps and Sherman traps, or a combination of both, in more than 81% of the studies. This data paper represents the first large dataset of faunal species inventories for the Andes. There are no copyright restrictions associated with the use of this dataset. Please cite this data paper when its data are used total or partially in research or teaching.

The leaf-eared mouse, Phyllotis xanthopygus (Waterhouse 1837) is a widely distributed sigmodontine rodent in South America, with populations ranging from central Peru to southern Argentina and Chile. Previous morphological and molecular contributions have suggested that P. xanthopygus represents a species complex. In order to characterize and disclose this cryptic species complex, we perform a molecular genetic/phylogenetic analysis of representative samples across its geographical distribution. Phylogenetic analyses were based on sequences of cytochrome-b gene (801 base pairs; n = 114 specimens) and analysed by maximum likelihood and Bayesian approaches. We also employed a Bayesian implementation of the Poisson tree processes (bPTP) as a unilocus species delimitation method. Results from our phylogenetic analyses retrieve eight well-supported clades. Five of these clades belong to populations known as P. xanthopygus s.l., which were paraphyletic to the closely related species P. bonariensis, P. caprinus, and P. limatus, displaying strong genetic divergences (>8%). The (bPTP) analyses recovered ten species within P. xanthopygus s.l. plus related forms (i.e. P. bonariensis, P. caprinus, and P. limatus). Our results, coupled with chromosomal and morphological evidences, support the recognition of these clades at the species level and provide a new framework to characterize the leaf-eared mice complex. Our study highlights the importance of integrative approaches in disentangling the biodiversity of Neotropical rodents. Fil: Ojeda, Agustina Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas; Argentina Fil: Teta, Pablo Vicente. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia"; Argentina Fil: Jayat, Jorge Pablo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico - Tucumán. Unidad Ejecutora Lillo; Argentina Fil: Lanzone, Cecilia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Posadas | Universidad Nacional de Misiones. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Posadas; Argentina Fil: Cornejo, Paula. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas; Argentina Fil: Novillo, Agustina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto de Biodiversidad Neotropical. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e Instituto Miguel Lillo. Instituto de Biodiversidad Neotropical. Instituto de Biodiversidad Neotropical; Argentina Fil: Ojeda, Ricardo Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas; Argentina

O genero Abrocoma Waterhouse inclui oito especies viventes de ratos de tamanho medio, com pelos longos, macios e densos, orelhas grandes e caudas moderadas a curtas. Seis dessas especies estao incluidas informalmente no complexo de especies de A. cinerea (A. cinerea Thomas, A. budini Thomas, A. famatina Thomas, A. schistacea Thomas, A. vaccarum Thomas, and A. uspallata Braun and Mares). Os estudos de especimes alojados em colecoes biologicas e na reinterpretacao de evidencias morfologicas anteriores sugerem que a atual riqueza de especies reconhecida do genero possa ser superestimada. As abordagens morfologicas qualitativas e quantitativas sao consistentes com o reconhecimento de nao mais que dois morfotipos no complexo de especies de A. cinerea. Contudo, linhas adicionais de evidencia e abordagens sao necessarias para desembaracar a complexa taxonomia deste genero (por exemplo, analise filogenetica de sequencias de DNA). Ate entao, prefiro nao fazer alteracoes na classificacao atual da Abrocoma, especialmente levando em consideracao que qualquer alteracao taxonomica pode ter consequencias indesejaveis ​​na conservacao desses roedores.