701.

Long-tailed Vesper Mouse

Calomys frida

French: Calomys a longue queue / German: Langschwanz-Vespermaus / Spanish: Ratén laucha de cola larga

Taxonomy. Hesperomys frida Thomas, 1917, Chospyoc, 10,000 ft (= 3048 m), Cusco, Peru.

Calomys frida was in synonymy with C. sorella until H. Zeballos and colleagues in 2014 elevated it to a valid species; they reported slight morphological variation between forms from south-central and south-eastern Peru and suggested possible specific differentiation between them. Monotypic.

Distribution. Andes in SE Peru.

Descriptive notes. Head—body 76-103 mm, tail 69-90 mm, ear 14-9—19 mm, hindfoot 15-3-29 mm; weight 13-26 g. Tail of the Long-tailed Vesper Mouse is 92:3% of headbody length; dorsum is brownish yellowish to pale cream-brown, with abundant black hair and reduced lateral band; venteris pale olive-gray; ears are cinnamon buff to brownish yellow;tail is bicolored, drab above and olive-buff below; and hindfeet are olive-buff.

Habitat. High-elevation grasslands dominated by Stipa ichu and Festuca orthophylla (both Poaceae), Parastrephia lepidophylla ( Asteraceae) shrubland, and patches of Polylepis (Rosaceae) forest at elevations above 3500 m.

Food and Feeding. The Long-tailed Vesper Mouse is granivorous.

Breeding. Pregnant Long-tailed Vesper Mice with 3-4 embryos were reported in August.

Activity patterns. The Long-tailed Vesper Mouse is nocturnal.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.

Status and Conservation. Not assessed on The [UCN Red List, where itis still considered a synonym of C. sorella .

Bibliography. Dorst (1971, 1972b), Hershkovitz (1962), Olds (1988), Pearson (1951a), Pearson & Patton (1976), Salazar-Bravo (2015c), Steppan (1995), Zeballos et al. (2014).