Mesomys leniceps, Thomas, 1926

Don E. Wilson, Thomas E. Lacher, Jr & Russell A. Mittermeier, 2016, Echimyidae, Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 6 Lagomorphs and Rodents I, Barcelona: Lynx Edicions, pp. 552-604 : 584-585

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.6623649

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6624668

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03C5A071-FFCD-FFF8-FADC-52EE5B85FA1F

treatment provided by

Carolina

scientific name

Mesomys leniceps
status

 

62. View Plate 35: Echimyidae

Long-haired Spiny Tree-rat

Mesomys leniceps View in CoL

French: Rat-épineux du Pérou / German: LanghaarAmazonas-Stachelratte / Spanish: Rata arboricola de pelo largo

Other common names: Peru Spiny Tree-rat, Woolly-headed Spiny Tree-rat

Taxonomy. Mesomys leniceps Thomas, 1926 View in CoL ,

“Yambrashbamba, Amazonas, 1830 m,” Peru .

Mesomys leniceps may only represent a regional variant of the widespread M. hispidus. Monotypic.

Distribution. E Andean slopes of N Peru (Amazonas and San Martin regions). View Figure

Descriptive notes. Head-body 180 mm, tail 214 mm. No specific data are available for body weight. Long-haired Spiny Tree-rat has brownish and rusty-red dorsal fur that is not as spiny as other species of Mesomys . Spines average 20 mm in length, are freely mixed with softer hairs within the fur, and lack distinct pale tips of other species of Mesomys . Head of the Long-haired Spiny Tree-rat is hairier than back, slightly “hispid” to the touch. Venter is hairier, rich ocherous overall but with large white patches in axillary and inguinal areas. Forefeet and hindfeet are pale buff above with white digits. Tail is 118% of head-body length and brown along its length; body hair extends farther onto base oftail than in other species (25 mm on average). Tail scales are also smaller, and scalar hairs are more appressed to the shaft. Long tuft of hairs extends distally from tail tip. Skull of the Long-haired Spiny Tree-rat is similar to those of the Tuft-tailed Spiny Tree-rat and other species of Mesomys but differs from the latter in several features, including more slender rostrum, nasals that do not extend behind premaxillary process, incisive foramina that are posteriorly narrowed,jugal and frontal bones around anterior orbital foramina slender such that height of zygoma itself is distinctly narrower, anteroposteriorly divergent molar tooth rows, and cheekteeth that decrease notably in size from dP* to M”

.

Habitat. Known only from upper montane rainforest on the eastern slope of the northern Andes in Peru at elevations of 1554-1980 m.

Food and Feeding. There is no specific information available for this species, but the Long-haired Spiny Tree-rat likely has omnivorous to herbivorous habits of its congeners.

Breeding. There is no information available for this species.

Activity patterns. There is no information available for this species.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. There is no information available for this species.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Data Deficient on The IUCN Red List. Habitats in vicinity ofthe type locality of the Long-haired Spiny Tree-rat are under strong pressure from human expansion and related logging activities. Additional studies on distribution, habitat, abundance, ecology, and conservation threats to Long Haired Spiny Tree-rat are needed.

Bibliography. Cabrera (1961), Eisenberg & Redford (1999), Ellerman (1940), Emmons (1990, 1997a, 2005), Patton et al. (2015), Tate (1935), Thomas (1926b), Thomas & St. Leger (1926), Upham et al. (2013), Woods (1993), Woods & Kilpatrick (2005).

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Rodentia

Family

Echimyidae

Genus

Mesomys

Loc

Mesomys leniceps

Don E. Wilson, Thomas E. Lacher, Jr & Russell A. Mittermeier 2016
2016
Loc

Mesomys leniceps

Thomas 1926
1926
GBIF Dataset (for parent article) Darwin Core Archive (for parent article) View in SIBiLS Plain XML RDF