445.

Fornes’s Pygmy Rice Rat

Oligoryzomys fornesi

French: Colilargo de Fornes / German: Fornes-Zwergreisratte / Spanish: Rata arrocera pigmea de Fornes

Other common names: Fornes’s Colilargo

Taxonomy. Oryzomys fornesi Massoia, 1973, “Ceibo 13, Naineck, Departamento de Rio Pilcomayo, provincia de Formosa, Republica Argentina.”

Populations referred to O. fornesi from northern Paraguay and Brazil have been recently ascribed to O. mattogrossae . Monotypic.

Distribution. NE Argentina and SE Paraguay.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 77 mm,tail 107 mm, ear 13 mm, hindfoot 23 mm; weight 24 g (mean values from the type series). Fornes’s Pygmy Rice Rat is one of the smallest species of Oligoryzomys, externally very similar to the Yellow Pygmy Rice Rat ( O. flavescens) but smaller. Ears of Fornes’s Pygmy Rice Rat are short, externally covered by delicate ocherous hair; dorsum is chestnutorange to chestnut-gray; and venter is paler than dorsum, typically yellowish white. Subtle cranial differences exist between Fornes’s Pygmy Rice Rat and the Yellow Pygmy Rice Rat.

Habitat. Humid Chaco in open areas including natural grasslands, palustrine habitats, areas used as pasture for domestic livestock, and banana plantations.

Food and Feeding. No information.

Breeding. No information.

Activity patterns. Fornes’s Pygmy Rice Rat is nocturnal and terrestrial.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The UICN Red List.

Bibliography. Massoia (1973), Olds & Anderson (1987), Weksler & Bonvicino (2015b), Weksler, Bonvicino, D’Elia & Pardinas (2016), Weksler, Lemos et al. (2017).