555.

Soft-furred Grass Mouse

Akodon mollis

French: Akodon a poil doux / German: WeichhaarGraslandmaus / Spanish: Raton campestre de pelaje suave

Other common names: Soft Grass Mouse, Soft-furred Akodont

Taxonomy. Acodon [sic] mollis Thomas, 1894, “Tumbez [= Tumbes], N. Peru.”

Morphological and karyological data suggest that A. mollis likely represents a complex of several lowland and highland species. Three subspecies recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution.

A.m.mollisThomas,1894—NWPeru;anisolatedpopulationinSPeruprobablybelongstothissubspecies.

A.m.altorumThomas,1913—intermontanevalleysinEcuador.

A. m. fulvescens Hershkovitz, 1940 — W Andean slopes in Ecuador and probably extreme S Colombia.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 81-113 mm, tail 55-92 mm, ear 8-18 mm, hindfoot (without claw) 18-26 mm; weight 19-32 g. The Soft-furred Grass Mouse is a medium-sized species of Akodon . Dorsal pelage soft and varies from dark olive to yellowish brown. Venteris paler, usually grayish or dull buff. Lateral line is weakly developed or absent. Dorsal surfaces of forefeet and hindfeet are pale brown to gray, covered with basally dark banded hairs. Ungual tufts are grayish or light brown, with distal margin of most hairs ending at orjust surpassing claws. Tail is short, moderately to well-furred, and distinctly to indistinctly bicolored, with darker hairs above. Cases of leucism were reported in Ecuadorean individuals and a low occurrence of white patches of fur around head and neck, probably caused by aggression during mating.

Habitat. Dry coastal areas on the Pacific coast, cloud forest and evergreen to semideciduous forests on upper slopes on both sides of Andes, and grasslands at high elevations typically above 2000 m. The Soft-furred Grass Mouse is also recorded in disturbed environments such as introduced Pinus (Pinaceae) or Eucalyptus (Myrtaceae) plantations.

Food and Feeding. The Soft-furred Grass Mouse is omnivorous, with a marked tendency to insectivory.

Breeding. The Soft-furred Grass Mouse has at least two reproductive cycles per year and 2-4 embryos/pregnancy.

Activity patterns. The Soft-furred Grass Mouse is terrestrial and mostly nocturnal. In Papallacta highlands, captures occurred on the ground: five specimens in tunnels among bases of tall bunch grass, five among wetlitter under mossy shrubs, four in runways through mixed bunchgrass and bushes, one in a rabbit trail beneath low herbaceous cover, and one beneath an earth bank. Elsewhere, no individuals were trapped from burrows in montane forest or Polylepys ( Rosaceae) forest, but on the paramo, they were trapped emerging from holes characterized by small mounds of fresh vegetation and grass seed heads piled next to them. Lineal average distances moved in Polylepis fragments were 160-180 m.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red Lust.

Bibliography. Alvarado-Serrano (2005), Alvarado-Serrano et al. (2013), Alvarez & Molina (2012), Barnett (1999), Brito & Valdivieso-Bermeo (2016), Dorst (1972b), Hershkovitz (1940b), Jiménez et al. (2013), Lobato et al. (1982), Luna (2012), Pardinas, Teta, Alvarado-Serrano et al. (2015), Thomas (1894), Tirira (2007), Voss (2003), Zeballos & Vivar (2016f).