Abstract
Anotomys leander is an elusive rodent with the smallest known range among ichthyomyines, limited to only three localities in the Andes of Ecuador. Its last known record dates from 1980, and currently it is represented by a low number of specimens and localities, hampering knowledge about its geographic range. We provide the first Colombian record of A. leander, and its fourth known locality, based on an individual captured in Cajamarca, on the eastern slope of the Cordillera Central. The specimen exhibits all the diagnostic characteristics of the species, and it differs from Ecuadorean specimens in having a hypothenar pad and lacking a bacular cartilage. Our record extends the known range of the species 620 km northeastward, and increases the number of ichthyomyine species in Colombia to six. The assessment of its potential geographic range among areas in Ecuador and Colombia and the identification of its main threats in the latter are fundamental tasks to reassess the conservation status of this threatened Andean rodent.
Acknowledgments
We thank Juan Pablo Hurtado for capturing the Colombian specimen of Anotomys leander and for generously providing pictures of its capture site. Javier Colmenares and Elson Meneses (Universidad Industrial de Santander UIS) carried out the staining of the baculum of the specimen (CTUA 2556; Supplemental Figure 4), and Sonia Gómez and Elvira Aguilar (Servicios Ambiental y Geográficos SAG) provided the additional information of the habitat. We acknowledge Diego Tirira for confirming the locality data and geographic coordinates some of the Ecuadorean specimens, and Sergio Solari for facilitating the access to the Colección Teriológica Universidad de Antioquia (CTUA). Finally, we thank Sergio Solari and Hector Ramírez-Chaves for suggestions on the manuscript and improving its English version.
References
Alberico, M., A. Cadena, J. Hernández-Camacho and Y. Muñoz-Saba. 2000. Mamíferos (Synapsida: Theria) de Colombia. Biota Colombiana 1: 43–75.Search in Google Scholar
Barnett, A.A. 1997. The ecology and natural history of a fishing mouse Chibchanomys spec. Nov. (Ichthyomyini: Muridae) from the Andes of southern Ecuador. Mamm. Biol. 62: 43–52.Search in Google Scholar
Burneo S.F., J.F. González-Maya and D.G. Tirira. 2009. Distribution and habitat modelling for Colombian Weasel Mustela felipei in the Northern Andes. Small Carnivore Conservation 41: 41–45.Search in Google Scholar
Cuervo Díaz, A., J. Hernández Camacho and G.A. Cadena. 1986. Lista actualizada de los mamíferos de Colombia anotaciones sobre su distribución. Caldasia 15: 471–501.Search in Google Scholar
Dormann, C.F. 2007. Promising the future? Global change projections of species distributions. Basic Appl. Ecol. 8: 387–397.10.1016/j.baae.2006.11.001Search in Google Scholar
Gillespie, T.W., G.M. Foody, D. Rocchini, A.P. Giorgi and S. Saatchi. 2008. Measuring and modelling biodiversity from space. Prog. Phys. Geogr. 32: 203–221.10.1177/0309133308093606Search in Google Scholar
Hanson, J.D., G. D’Elía, S.B. Ayers, S.B. Cox, S.F. Burneo and T.E. Lee. 2015. A new species of fish-eating rat, genus Neusticomys (Sigmodontinae), from Ecuador. Zool. Stud. 54: 49.10.1186/s40555-015-0126-7Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
Holdridge, L.R. 1964. Life Zone Ecology. Tropical Science Center, San José. pp. 206.Search in Google Scholar
IUCN. 2015. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2015.4. International Union for Conservation of Nature. <http://www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 28 April 2016.Search in Google Scholar
Lee, T., S.F. Burneo, M.R. Marchán, S. Roussos and R.S. Vizcarra-Váscomez. 2008. The mammals of the temperate forests of Volcán Sumaco, Ecuador. Occas. Pap. Mus. Texas Tech Univ. 276: 1–9.Search in Google Scholar
Leite, R.N., M.N.F. Silva and T.A. Gardner. 2007. New records of Neusticomys oyapocki (Rodentia, Sigmodontinae) from a human-dominated forest landscape in northeastern brazilian Amazonia. Mastozool. Neotrop. 14: 257–261.Search in Google Scholar
Miranda, C.L., V. Rossi, T.B.F. Semedo and T.A. Flores. 2012. New records and geographic distribution extension of Neusticomys ferreirai and N. oyapocki (Rodentia, Sigmodontinae). Mammalia 76: 335–339.10.1515/mammalia-2011-0114Search in Google Scholar
Ochoa, J.G. and P. Soriano. 1991. A new species of water rat, genus Neusticomys Anthony, from the Andes of Venezuela. J. Mammal. 71: 97–103.10.2307/1381983Search in Google Scholar
Pacheco, V. and J. Ugarte-Núñez. 2011. New records of Stolzmann’s fish-eating rat Ichthyomys stolzmanni (Cricetidae, Sigmodontinae) in Peru: a rare species becoming a nuisance. Mamm. Biol. 76: 657–661.10.1016/j.mambio.2010.10.007Search in Google Scholar
Papeş, M. and P. Gaubert. 2007. Modelling ecological niches from low numbers of occurrences: Assessment of the conservation status of poorly known viverrids (Mammalia, Carnivora) across two continents. Divers. Distrib. 13: 890–902.10.1111/j.1472-4642.2007.00392.xSearch in Google Scholar
Patterson, B.D., S. Solari and P.M. Velazco. 2012. The role of the Andes in the diversification and biogeography of neotropical mammals. In: (B.D. Patterson and L.P. Costa, eds.) Bones, clones and biomes: the history and geography of recent Neotropical mammals. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. pp. 351–378.10.7208/chicago/9780226649214.003.0015Search in Google Scholar
Patton, J.L., U.F.J. Pardiñas and G. D´Elia. 2015. Mammals of South America Volume 2: Rodents. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. pp. 336.10.7208/chicago/9780226169606.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Pearson, R.G., C.J. Raxworthy, M. Nakamura and A.T. Peterson. 2007. Predicting species distributions from small numbers of occurrence records: A test case using cryptic geckos in Madagascar. J. Biogeogr. 34: 102–117.10.1111/j.1365-2699.2006.01594.xSearch in Google Scholar
Percequillo, A.R., A.P. Carmignotto and M.J.D Silva. 2005. A new species of Neusticomys (Ichthyomyini, Sigmodontinae) from central Brazilian Amazonia. J. Mammal. 86: 873–880.10.1644/1545-1542(2005)86[873:ANSONI]2.0.CO;2Search in Google Scholar
Rocchini, D., J. Hortal, S. Lengyel, J.M. Lobo, A. Jimenez-Valverde, C. Ricotta, G. Bacaro and A. Chiarucci. 2011. Accounting for uncertainty when mapping species distributions: The need for maps of ignorance. Prog. Phys. Geogr. 35: 211–226.10.1177/0309133311399491Search in Google Scholar
Rodríguez, N., D. Armenteras, M. Morales and M. Romero. 2006. Ecosistemas de los Andes Colombianos. Segunda ed. Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt, Bogotá. pp 154.Search in Google Scholar
Rodríguez-Posada, M.E. 2014. Primer registro del ratón de agua del Táchira, Neusticomys mussoi (Rodentia, Cricetidae) en Colombia. Mastozool. Neotrop. 21: 367–372.Search in Google Scholar
Sánchez-Giraldo, C. and J.F. Díaz-Nieto. 2015. Dynamics of species composition of small non-volant mammals from the northern Cordillera Central of Colombia. Mammalia 79: 385–397.10.1515/mammalia-2014-0018Search in Google Scholar
Soberón, J. and A.T. Peterson. 2004. Biodiversity informatics: managing and applying primary biodiversity data. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B. Biol. Sci. 359: 689–98.10.1098/rstb.2003.1439Search in Google Scholar PubMed
Solari, S., Y. Muñoz-Saba, J.V. Rodríguez-Mahecha, T.R. Defler, H.E. Ramírez-Chaves and F. Trujillo. 2013. Riqueza, endemismo y conservación de los mamíferos de Colombia. Mastozool. Neotrop. 20: 301–365.Search in Google Scholar
Thomas, O. 1906. A new aquatic genus of Muridae discovered by consul L. Soderstrom in Ecuador. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. 7: 86–88.10.1080/00222930608562492Search in Google Scholar
Tirira, D. and C. Boada. 2010. Anotomys leander. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2010: e.T1564A4938565. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-2.RLTS.T1564A4938565.en. Downloaded on 05 February 2016.10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-2.RLTS.T1564A4938565.enSearch in Google Scholar
Velandia-Perilla, J.H. and C.A. Saavedra-Rodríguez. 2015. Mammalia, Rodentia, Cricetidae, Neusticomys monticolus (Anthony, 1921): Noteworthy records of the Montane fish-eating rat in Colombia. Check List 9: 686–688.10.15560/9.3.686Search in Google Scholar
Voss, R.S. 1988. Systematics and ecology of Ichthyomyine rodents (Muroidae): Patterns of morphological evolution in a small adaptative radiation. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 188: 259–493.Search in Google Scholar
Voss, R.S. 2003. A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from eastern Ecuador, with remarks on mammalian diversity and biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. Am. Mus. Novit. 3421: 1–47.10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2Search in Google Scholar
Voss, R.S. 2015. Tribe Ichthyomyini Vorontsov, 1959. In: (J.L. Patton., U.F.J. Pardiñas and G. D´Elia, eds.) Mammals of South America, Volume 2: Rodents. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. pp. 279–291.Search in Google Scholar
Supplemental Material:
The online version of this article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/mammalia-2016-0100) offers supplementary material.
©2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
