372.

Boquete Rice Rat

Nephelomys devius

French: Néphélomys de Boguete / German: Boqguete-Reisratte / Spanish: Rata arrocera de Boquete

Other common names: Montane Rice Rat, Talamancan Oryzomys

Taxonomy. Oryzomys devius Bangs, 1902, Boquete, 5000 ft (= 1524 m), Chiriqui Volcano, Chiriqui, Panama.

Nephelomys still lacks comprehensive revision, but A. R. Percequillo in 2003 and 2015 made an effort to order and describe South American species. Two recent unpublished dissertations, those by N. Tinoco in 2015 and C. Cardenas in 2017, focused on species primarily distributed in Ecuador and Colombia, respectively, and deserve special mention because they demonstrated that Nephelomys is still a rich field for taxonomic studies with probable existence of several undescribed species and the need to refine taxa already described. Nephelomys deviusis allied to N. pirrensis . Monotypic.

Distribution. Highlands of Costa Rica and W Panama.

Descriptive notes. Head—body 155-165 mm (mean 159 mm), tail 180-195 mm (mean 185 mm), ear (mean 22 mm), hindfoot 33-36 mm (mean 37 mm). No specific data are available for body weight. Nephelomys includes medium to moderately large oryzomyines, with tails longer than head-body lengths, long and dense mystacial vibrissae, and long and narrow hindfeet. Pelage is soft, dense, and long to very long; ventral pelage can have patches of single-colored hairs in gular, thoracic, abdominal, and inguinal regions. The Boquete Rice Rat is medium-large and similar to the Mount Pirre Rice Rat (N. pirrensis) but with underparts marked by white patches. Upperparts are dark tawny, inclining toward russet and rather heavily mixed with black along median line of dorsum, becoming light tawny, or in paler examples dark ocherous buff along lower part ofsides; throatis whitish, rest of underparts are overlaid with ocherous buff and dull white; nose and ears are blackish; feet are dull yellowish or light brownish; and tail is dark brownish above and paler below.

Habitat. Cloud forests at elevations of 2450-2700 m in Volcan Poas National Park (rarely), Costa Rica, and 1200-1500 m in Chiriqui Volcano, Panama.

Food and Feeding. The Boquete Rice Rat is reportedly the only sigmodontine that drinks nectar from flowers of Blakea (Melastomataceae) in Costa Rican cloud forests. It also eats arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and might be an important spore disperser.

Breeding. No information.

Activity patterns. The Boquete Rice Rat is nocturnal and terrestrial. It has been reported as living on the ground near logs, in hollow trees, and at bases of large oaks.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.

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

Bibliography. Cardenas (2017), Goldman (1918a), Lumer(1980), Mangan & Adler (2000), McCain et al. (2007), McPherson (1985), Percequillo (2003, 2015g), Rojas & Barboza (2007), Samudio (2016), Timm & LaVal (2000), Tinoco (2015).