570.

Thespian Grass Mouse

Akodon mimus

French: Akodon imitateur / German: Kleine Graslandmaus / Spanish: Raton campestre tragico

Other common names: Hocicudo-like Akodont

Taxonomy. Oxymycterus mimus Thomas, 1901, “Limbane [= Limbani], Dept. Puno [Peru]. Alt. 2600 m ”

Generic allocation of mimus deserves a further scrutiny. Monotypic.

Distribution. E Andean slopes from SE Peru (Puno Department) to C Bolivia (Santa Cruz Department).

Descriptive notes. Head-body 97 mm, tail 94 mm, ear 18 mm, hindfoot 24 mm (means). No specific data are available for body weight. The Thespian Grass Mouse is moderately sized species of Akodon, uniformly gray-brown above and below, without an eye-ring, and with or without whitish spot on chin. Dorsum is gray-brown, and venteris slightly contrasting with dorsum. Tail is dark usually longer than head-body length.

Habitat. Upper elfin forests, cloud forests, transition between them, and grasslands at elevations of 2000-3700 m. The Thespian Grass Mouse also is found in humanmodified areas used for potato crops and pastoral activities.

Food and Feeding. The Thespian Grass Mouse is omnivorous but mainly eats invertebrates.

Breeding. Pregnant Thespian Grass Mice were caught in October, with a mean of two embryos, and one lactating female was caught in June.

Activity patterns. No information.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.

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

Bibliography. Anderson (1997), Dunnum, Vargas, Bernal, Pacheco et al. (2016), Hinojosa etal. (1987), Pardinas, Teta, Alvarado-Serrano et al. (2015), Patton & Smith (1992b), Vargas et al. (2007).