Nectomys squamipes (Brants 1827)

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 : 1133

Nectomys squamipes (Brants 1827)

[Mus] squamipes Brants 1827 , Het Geslacht der Muizen: 138.

Type Locality: Brazil, São Paulo State, São Sebastião (as restricted by Hershkovitz, 1944:32).

Vernacular Names: Atlantic Forest Nectomys.

Synonyms: Nectomys aquaticus ( Lund 1841) ; Nectomys brasiliensis (Pictet and Pictet 1844) ; Nectomys olivaceus Hershkovitz 1944 ; Nectomys pollens Hollister 1914 ; Nectomys robustus (Burmeister 1854) .

Distribution: SE Brazil (Pernambuco to Rio Grande do Sul), NE Argentina (Misiones Prov.), and E Paraguay.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Hershkovitz (1944) arrayed most nominal taxa of water rats as subspecies of N. squamipes , a polytypic view maintained by Cabrera (1961). Gardner and Patton (1976) intimated the mixed specific composition of " squamipes ," and Reig (in Honacki et al., 1982; 1986) offered enumerations of valid species and probable synonymies. Formerly included apicalis , magdalenae , palmipes , and rattus (see those accounts). The narrower definition of N. squamipes now coalescing (that is, containing those populations with 2n = 56-59—Andrades et al., 2001 b; Barros et al., 1992; Bonvicino et al., 1996) corresponds to a species restricted to the Atlantic Forest region, overlapping with N. rattus in riverine settings of the Cerrado-Caatinga biomes. See Ernest (1986, Mammalian Species, 265).