Oryzomys subflavus (Wagner 1842)

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Rodentia - Family Cricetidae, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 2, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 955-1189 : 1155

Oryzomys subflavus (Wagner 1842)

[Hesperomys] subflavus Wagner 1842 , Arch. Naturgesch., 8 (1): 362.

Type Locality: Brazil, Minas Gerais State, Lagoa Santa (as restricted by Cabrera, 1961:396).

Vernacular Names: Flavescent Oryzomys.

Synonyms: Oryzomys vulpinoides (Schinz 1845) ; Oryzomys vulpinus (Lund 1840) .

Distribution: Lowland forests of E Brazil (Ceará and Río Grande do Norte southwestwardly to São Paulo), E Bolivia (less than 500 m, per Anderson, 1997), and extreme SE Peru (as buccinatus , per Pacheco et al., 1995); limits uncertain.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Morphology characterized, holotype identified, and synonyms attributed by Musser et al. (1998); definition further restricted and karyotype (2n = 54, FN = 62), based on topotypical specimens, reported by Langguth and Bonvicino (2002). Hershkovitz (1960) placed catherinae Thomas , and rex Thomas , as synonyms of O. subflavus ; however, both are forms of Oecomys (see that account). The supposed distribution of O. subflavus in the Guianas (e.g., Honacki et al., 1982) issued from this erroneous allocation of names (e.g., not recorded by Husson, 1978, or Voss et al., 2001). Age and secondary sexual variation in a large sample (Perambuco, Brazil) investigated by Brandt and Pessóa (1994). Extensive karyotypic (2n = 46-58, FN = 56-72) and molecular variation indicates the presence of several species within the nominal taxon ( Andrades-Miranda et al., 2002 b; Bonvicino et al., 1999; Bonvicino and Martins Moreira, 2001:Fig. 4, which see for geographic occurrences of these genetic entities), and documentation of this diversity initiated by the descriptive studies of Langguth and Bonvicino (2002) and Bonvicino (2003); see accounts of O. maracajuensis , O. marinhus , and O. scotti . The distribution of O. subflavus proper may conform to the Atlantic Forest region and along gallery forests into the Cerrado; with description of the new species, status of populations allocated to subflavus outside of this region (e.g., Anderson, 1997; Gamarra de Fox and Martin, 1996; Pacheco et al., 1995) should be reassessed.