First record of the Santa Marta mouse, Nephelomys maculiventer (Mammalia, Rodentia, Cricetidae), for Venezuela

Abstract

We report the first record of the Santa Marta mouse Nephelomys maculiventer in Venezuela based on a specimen from the Northern Andes in the Sierra de Perijá. This record increases the number of mammalian species documented in Venezuela to 404 and extends the geographic distribution range of N. maculiventer approximately 80 km northwest from the closest locality in Colombia. With this discovery, we update the ecological and conservation information for the species as well as the taxonomy of the genus Nephelomys.

Morphological Variation in the Skull of Nephelomys meridensis (Rodentia, Cricetidae): Evidence for Cryptic Species in Andean Populations from Northern South America

“…Finally, our work highlights the need to gather complete wildlife inventories in biogeographically important zones of the Venezuelan Andes, such as Sierra de Perijá, where the presence of N. maculiventer was recently reported (García et al 2019); the protected areas of the Venezuelan System of National Parks located in Cordillera de Mérida (e.g., Dinira National Park, Guache, Páramo Batallón and la Negra, etc. ); as well as other areas within the distribution range of the non-Andean species N. caracolus in Cordillera de la Costa and the Lara-Falcón hill systems in northern Venezuela.…”

“…Three species, all included in the Nephelomys albigularis group (sensu Weksler et al 2006), are currently known to occur in Venezuela, one being endemic to the country (García et al 2019). Their geographical distribution is as follows: N. caracolus (endemic) has been recorded in the central and western portions of Cordillera de la Costa (Aguilera et al 1995;Márquez et al 2000;Percequillo 2003Percequillo , 2015Anderson and Raza 2010) and in the Lara-Falcón hill systems (Anderson et al 2012); N. meridensis is found in the Andes at Cordillera de gous morphological landmarks were digitized (Bookstein 1991; Figure 2) using the software tpsDig (Rohlf 2006); the total number of landmarks digitized on each view were as follows: dorsal (12), ventral (15), lateral (11), and jaw (10).…”

“…The Procustes residuals produced two matrices; the partial deviations matrix was used for exploratory analyses (Canonical Variable and Discriminant Function analyses) aimed to identify correlations between the different Mérida and the Tamá massif (Aguilera et al 1995;Soriano et al 1999;Márquez et al 2000;Percequillo 2003Percequillo , 2015Anderson and Raza 2010); N. maculiventer was recently recorded in Sierra de Perijá (García et al 2019). However, some authors recognize N. meridensis as a species complex, suggesting the existence of two additional taxa in the populations from the Venezuelan Andes (Aguilera et al 1995;Rivas and Péfaur 1999a;Márquez et al 2000;Percequillo 2003).…”