Nectomys Peters 1860

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 : 1131

Nectomys Peters 1860

Nectomys Peters 1860 , Abh. K. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1860: 151.

Type Species: Mus squamipes Brants 1827

Synonyms: Potamys Liais 1872 .

Species and subspecies: 5 species:

Species Nectomys apicalis Peters 1860

Species Nectomys magdalenae Thomas 1897

Species Nectomys palmipes J. A. Allen and Chapman 1893

Species Nectomys rattus Pelzeln 1883

Species Nectomys squamipes ( Brants 1827)

Discussion: Oryzomyini . A broad and diverse character base indelibly and uniformly pictures the phyletic heritage of Nectomys as oryzomyine (Baker et al., 1983; Dickerman and Yates, 1995; Hershkovitz, 1944, 1960; Hooper and Musser, 1964 a; Myers et al., 1995; Patton and da Silva, 1995; Smith and Patton, 1999; Steppan, 1995; Voss and Carleton, 1993). Hershkovitz (1944) included Sigmodontomys as a subgenus; Gardner and Patton (1976) urged removal of Sigmodontomys to Oryzomys , and Musser and Carleton (1993) provisionally elevated it to genus.

Regional studies are beginning to uncover the species diversity masked by Hershkovitz’s (1944) concept of a single, pan-Amazonian species, N. squamipes (e.g., Andrades-Miranda et al., 2001 b; Gómez-LaVerde et al., 1999; Patton et al., 2000; Voss et al., 2001). Integration of these regional perspectives nevertheless warrants continued alpha-level revisionary investigation to voucher geographic ranges and to properly associate junior synonyms .