552.

Araucaria Grass Mouse

Deltamys araucaria

French: Akodon des araucarias / German: Araukarien-Grasmaus / Spanish: Ratén campestre de Araucaria

Taxonomy. Deltamys araucaria Quintela et al., 2017, “Sao Francisco de Paula municipality.” Restricted by U. F. J. Pardinas in 2017 to “ 5 km west of Centro de Pesquisas e Conservacao da Natureza Pro-Mata/ PUCRS, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil.”

Original type locality lacked a precise definition because it refers to a municipality and not to a specific point. In addition, part of the geographical coordinates given in the original publication [29°29°73” §, 50°13’49” W] were incorrect because 73” S clearly exceeds one minute. Most likely, the place where the holotype of D. araucaria was obtained was also the type locality of Scapteromys meridionalis named by F. M. Quintela and colleagues in 2014. Taking into account the original information and also additional publications, type locality of D. araucaria is here restricted. Monotypic.

Distribution. Known only from the type locality in S Brazil.

Descriptive notes. Head—body 80 mm,tail 66 mm, ear 14 mm, hindfoot 22 mm; weight 16 g (10-22 g) (means from the type series of seven individuals). The Araucaria Grass Mouseis slightly smaller and short-tailed than Kemp’s Grass Mouse ( D. kempi). Pelage is dense and soft, uniformly tawny brown on dorsum and grayish brown on venter. Ears are rounded, not reaching eyes when laid forward and densely covered with hair. Tail is ¢.75% of head-body length, unicolored, and dark. There are four pairs of mammae. The Araucaria Grass Mouse was diagnosed as a markedly tawny furred species of Deltamys, with a chromosomal complement of 2n = 34, FNa = 34 and protostyle—a dental feature incorrectly identified because it was a protoloph not a protostyle.

Habitat. Araucaria (Araucariaceae) moist forest (Ombrophilous Mixed Forest) and palustrine savanna with predominance of Eryngium pandanifolium( Apiaceae) and Baccharis sp. (Asteraceae) at elevations of ¢.900 m.

Food and Feeding. No information.

Breeding. No information.

Activity patterns. No information.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.

Status and Conservation. Not assessed on The IUCN Red List. Apparently, the Araucaria Grass Mouse is the same taxon earlier recorded by E. Ped6 in 2005 and Pedo6 and colleagues in 2010 as “ Akodon sp. 2 . (2n = 34).” According to field work, it was strictly associated with grasslands and highly abundant in protected areas but absent in impacted areas with the same kind of original vegetation.

Bibliography. Ped6 (2005), Pedo etal. (2010), Quintela, Bertuol et al. (2017), Quintela, Gongalves et al. (2014).