699.

Coastal Vesper Mouse

Calomys chinchilico

French: Calomys farfadet / German: Kiisten-Vespermaus / Spanish: Raton laucha de costa

Taxonomy. Calomys chinchilico Zeballos et al., 2014, Cerro Lloque, 900 m, Atiquipa, Arequipa, Peru.

This species is monotypic.

Distribution. Andes in SW Peru (Atiquipa District).

Descriptive notes. Head-body 61-9-89 mm, tail 60-75 mm, ear 14-19-6 mm, hindfoot 16-5-19-6 mm; weight 11-19 g. Dorsum of the Coastal Vesper Mouse is deep olive to dark olive due to black hairs; coat has diffuse longitudinal band, yellowish brown to yellowish green. Sides of head, body, and belly are whitish to pallid smoke gray, with base of dark gray hairs. Ears are tawny olive; hindfeet and ventral part of tail are pallid olive buff. Tail is bicolored, yellowish brown above and whitish below.

Habitat. Open vegetation and shrubs ( Grindelia glutinosa, Asteraceae, and Mimosa albida, Fabaceae) maintained by mist condensation at elevations of 280-980 m. The Coastal Vesper Mouse is only known from “Lomas” (mist oases) vegetation in southern Peru.

Food and Feeding. The Coastal Vesper Mouse is insectivorous and granivorous.

Breeding. No information.

Activity patterns. No information.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.

Status and Conservation. Not assessed on The IUCN Red List. Although common in habitats it occupies, the Coastal Vesper Mouse is endemic to a unique habitat type, the Lomas, which is heavily impacted by human activities, and might warrant some level of conservation protection in the future.

Bibliography. Aguilar (1985), Brack (1974), Mena et al. (2007), Pearson (1975, 1982), Pearson & Ralph (1978), Péfaur (1978), Péfaur et al. (1981), Zeballos, Cornejo et al. (2000), Zeballos, Palma et al. (2014), Zeballos, Villegas et al. (2000), Zuniga (1942).