707.

Rejected Vesper Mouse

Calomys expulsus

French: Calomys du Caatinga / German: Caatinga-Vespermaus / Spanish: Raton laucha excluyente

Other common names: Caatinga Laucha

Taxonomy. Mus expulsus Lund, 1840, [Lagoa Santa, Rio das Velhas, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Calomys mattevi described from the Caatinga domain is treated here as a junior synonym of C. expulsus . Monotypic.

Distribution. C highlands region in NE & C Brazil.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 85-7-113 mm, tail 62-82 mm, ear 15-3-18-7 mm, hindfoot 19:1-21-3 mm; weight 22-3-34-1 g. The Rejected Vesper Mouse is average-sized for a large, lowland species of Calomys; tail is short, averaging c.74% of head-body length; dorsum is yellowish to olive brown, finely streaked with black hairs; sides are tawny, not as dark as dorsum, sharply countershaded relative to venter; no lateral line separates sides from venter; head is same color as dorsum; and venter is covered with white-tipped but gray-based hairs throughout but completely white around chin. Moderate to well-developed eye-ring is present. Forefeet and hindfeet are covered dorsally with short white hair, and claws are tufted. Tail is only weakly bicolored, slightly darker above, and ears are average length for the genus (c.17 mm) and covered by darker hair.

Habitat. Open vegetation such as grasslands and forest fringes of Cerrado and Caatinga biomes. The Rejected Vesper Mouse is also reportedly common in cultivated fields.

Food and Feeding. The Rejected Vesper Mouse is granivorous.

Breeding. Litters of the Rejected Vesper Mouse average 5-9 young; successive births occur after c.22 days. Puberty is reached, on average. at 22 days for males and 37 days for females.

Activity patterns. The Rejected Vesper Mouse is terrestrial.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.

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

Bibliography. Araripe et al. (2006), Bonvicino & Almeida (2000), Bonvicino & Geise (2016), Bonvicino, Lima & Almeida (2003), Bonvicino, Oliveira & Gentile (2010), de Camargo et al. (2016), Cordeiro-Estrela et al. (2006), Gurgel-Filho et al. (2015), Hingst-Zaheret al. (2000), Magrini & Facure (2008), Mattevi et al. (2005), Mello & Teixeira (1977), Nascimento etal. (2011), SalazarBravo (2015c), Santos & Henriques (2010), Svartman & de Almeida (1992).