Peromyscus aztecus Saussure 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 : 1063

Peromyscus aztecus Saussure 1860

Peromyscus aztecus Saussure 1860 , Rev. Mag. Zool. Paris, ser. 2, 12: 105.

Type Locality: México, Veracruz, vicinity of Mirador, about 3800 ft ([~ 1158 m] as designated by Osgood, 1909:156).

Vernacular Names: Aztec Deermouse.

Synonyms: Peromyscus cordillerae Dickey 1928 ; Peromyscus evides Osgood 1904 ; Peromyscus hondurensis Goodwin 1941 ; Peromyscus oaxacensis Merriam 1898 ; Peromyscus yautepecus Goodwin 1955 .

Distribution: Humid montane and cloud forests, 800-3140 m, from C Veracruz and C Guerrero, through Oaxaca and E Chiapas, México, to Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: P. aztecus species group. Traditionally viewed as a subspecies of P. boylii ( Osgood, 1909; Hall and Kelson, 1959). Species status recognized by Alvarez (1961); morphological recognition, distribution, and synonymies clarified by Musser (1969) and Carleton (1979). Systematic relationships examined by Bradley and Schmidly (1987), Smith (1990), Sullivan and Kilpatrick (1991), and Sullivan et al. (1997). Formerly included P. hylocetes (see account); other junior synonyms ( evides , hondurensis , oaxacensis ) have been treated as species (Hooper, 1968; Osgood, 1909) and their inclusion under P. aztecus deserves further scrutiny, especially those populations that occupy highlands south of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (e.g., see Sullivan et al., 1997, 2000). Segregated together with P. hylocetes , P. spicilegus , and P. winkelmanni as the aztecus species group (Carleton, 1989; Sullivan et al., 1997; Tiemann-Boege et al., 2000). See Vázquez et al. (2001, Mammalian Species, 649).