taxonID	type	description	language	source
03FAB267FFB1FFCCFCA4FB54DFAFD9B8.taxon	discussion	Among the material collected near Papallacta is a previously unknown murid rodent belonging to the sigmodontine genus Thomasomys Coues. Formerly construed broadly to include southeastern Brazilian taxa (e. g., by Osgood, 1933; Ellerman, 1940; Cabrera, 1961; Pine, 1980), Thomasomys has subsequently been restricted (Voss, 1993; González, 2000) to a smaller but still speciose group that is endemic to tropical Andean cloud forests from Venezuela to Bolivia. Apparently, the center of diversity for the genus includes eastern Ecuador, where the new species described below may occur sympatrically with at least seven other congeners.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFBFFFC5FF24FF53DA07DBE6.taxon	materials_examined	TYPE MATERIAL: The holotype, UMMZ 155644 (skin, skull, and fluid­preserved carcass; original number RSV 660), is an adult male that I collected on 26 April 1980 at an elevation of 11,100 ft (3384 m) in the valley of the Río Papallacta (ca. 3 – 5 km by trail NNW Papallacta), Provincia Napo, Ecuador. Forty­two other specimens collected in 1978 and 1980, hereby designated as paratypes, are from 8.2 km (by road) W Papallacta, 12,200 ft (UMMZ 127119, 127120, 155717); 7.5 km (by road) W Papallacta, 12,000 ft (UMMZ 155652 – 155655, 155722 – 155732); 6.2 km (by road) W Papallacta, 11,700 ft (AMNH 244611 – 244613; UMMZ 127121, 155742, 155649 – 155651, 155714 – 155716, 155718, 155719, 155733 – 155736); and the Río Papallacta valley [3 – 5 km by trail NNW Papallacta], 11,100 ft (UMMZ 155643, 155645 – 155648, 155720, 155721). Three additional paratypes (AMNH 46621, 46622, 46624) were collected in 1903 by L. Söderström at Tablón, in Provincia Pichincha (see appendix 1).	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFBFFFC5FF24FF53DA07DBE6.taxon	distribution	DISTRIBUTION: Known only from the crest of the Cordillera Oriental (between ca. 3400 and 3700 m) just south of the equator in the Ecuadorean provinces of Pichincha and Napo.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFBFFFC5FF24FF53DA07DBE6.taxon	etymology	ETYMOLOGY: Ucucha is the local Quichua word for ‘‘ mouse’ ’ (Orr, 1978), here treated as a noun standing in aposition to the generic name.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFBFFFC5FF24FF53DA07DBE6.taxon	diagnosis	DIAGNOSIS: A medium­sized, dark­furred, long­tailed species of Thomasomys with short, blunt rostrum; narrow interorbital region with rounded supraorbital margins; widely flaring zygomatic arches; straight fronto­nasal profile; broad, vertically oriented zygomatic plate; short incisive foramina; separate buccinator­masticatory and accessory oval foramina; primitive (pattern 1) carotid circulation; small, uninflated auditory bullae; small, hypsodont molars lacking well­developed cingula and stylar cusps; very small upper third molars; broad and conspicuously procumbent upper incisors; and a distinctive range of morphometric variation (table 1).	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFBFFFC5FF24FF53DA07DBE6.taxon	description	DESCRIPTION: Pelage dense, fine, and soft, about 13 – 15 mm long over the back and rump; somberly colored (dark) and not abruptly countershaded. Mass­effect dorsal coloration near Smithe’s (1975) Brownish Olive (color 29) along flanks, shading to Dark Grayish Brown (color 20) middorsally. Ventral pelage Dark Neutral Gray (color 83) basally, with superficial wash of Light Neutral Gray (color 85) or Glaucous (color 80); not sharply set off from dorsal coloration. Mystacial vibrissae long, extending just behind pinnae when laid back alongside head. Ears sparsely covered with short, blackish hairs, not contrasting conspicuously with color of head. Hairs over metapodials and digits of manus and pes dark, but tufts of longer hairs at bases of pedal claws silvery. Pes neither very narrow nor conspicuously broad; digit V long (its claw extending almost to base of claw of digit IV), but apparently nonopposable. Tail substantially longer than combined length of head and body, uniformly dark in most specimens but occasionally tipped with white; sparsely haired except for 5 – 10 mm terminal pencil. Mammae six in inguinal, abdominal, and postaxial pairs. Skull (in dorsal view) characterized by short, blunt rostrum flanked by shallow zygomatic notches; narrow, hourglass­shaped interorbit with rounded (not beaded or squared) margins; broadly flaring zygomatic arches; and large, oblong braincase unmarked by prominent temporal scars or lambdoidal ridges. Dorsal profile (in lateral view) distinctively flattened from nasal tips to midfrontal region; anterior margin of zygomatic plate straight and nearly vertical, not conspicuously sloping backward from base. Incisive foramina widest just behind premaxillary / maxillary suture and short (averaging 60 % of diastemal length), not approaching first molar alveoli. Palatal bridge broad, smooth (without prominent ridges or grooves), and short (not extending posteriorly behind molar rows); posterolateral pits small, simple, inconspicuous perforations (never large, complex, or recessed in shallow fossae). Mesopterygoid fossa broad, straightsided, extending anteriorly between third molars; bony roof complete or perforated by narrow, slit­like sphenopalatine openings flanking the presphenoid / basisphenoid suture. Parapterygoid fossae narrow, approximately triangular, with shallow (unexcavated) anterior limits. Alisphenoid strut present, separating buccinator­masticatory from accessory oval foramina. Carotid circulation primitive (pattern 1), as indicated by large stapedial foramen, prominent squamosal­alisphenoid groove, and sphenofrontal foramen. Postglenoid foramen and subsquamosal fenestra subequal; tegmen tympani broadly overlaps posterior suspensory process of squamosal. Auditory bullae small, uninflated, flask­shaped; without sharply defined transition between capsular part and bony eustacian tube. Tympanic membrane pars flaccida present, large. Malleus with large orbicular apophysis. Mandible with distinct capsular process for lower incisor alveolus on lateral surface posteroventral to base of coronoid process. Basihyal more­or­less straight (not strongly arched), without entoglossal process. Upper incisors large, broad, and conspicuously procumbent, with heavily pigmented enamel bands (near Smithe’s [1975] Spectrum Orange [color 17] in fresh material). Upper molars in parallel left and right series, small, pentalophodont, hypsodont when unworn (by comparison with more brachydont congeners), and lacking well­developed cingula and stylar cusps. M 1 anterocone divided by anteromedian flexus into subequal anterolabial and anterolingual conules. Paralophs and metalophs (on M 1 and M 2) connect corresponding labial cusps to mesolophs and posterolophs, respectively, or to median mures, not to opposing lingual cusps. M 3 conspicuously smaller than M 2 (<50 % as estimated by occlusal areas) and usually lacking a distinct lingual fold (hypoflexus). Lower molars similar to upper teeth in general design, but m 1 anteroconid often undivided (even in unworn dentitions), and m 3 not conspicuously reduced. Molar root formulas unknown (no specimens are available with loose teeth), but M 1 and m 1 apparently without accessory rootlets. Stomach unilocular­hemiglandular. Adult males with one pair each of dorsal prostate, anterior prostate, ampullary, vesicular, and bulbo­urethral glands; and with two pairs of ventral prostate glands. Macroscopic preputial glands absent. Glans penis small, short, and subcylindrical (weakly divided into right and left halves by a shallow middorsal trough and an inconspicuous midventral raphe but otherwise unmarked by external folds); externally covered with coarse spines except for broad rim of soft, crenulated tissue surrounding terminal crater; crater contents include three bacular mounds, bifurcate urethral flap, and one dorsal papilla; two small spinous patches of rugose epithelium present dorsolateral to bacular mounds, but remaining crater contents unarmed. COMPARISONS: As restricted by Voss (1993) and González (2000), the genus Thomasomys consists of 6 ­ mammate pentalophodont Andean sigmodontines with very shallow zygomatic notches; hourglass­shaped interorbital regions that lack well­developed beads or projecting supraorbital shelves; short palates lacking prominent posterolateral pits; and auditory bullae firmly attached to the skull by overlap of the tegmen tympani with a posterior suspensory process of the squamosal. Because all of these traits are currently thought to be plesiomorphies within the Neotropical muroid radiation (Voss, 1993), the genus lacks compelling evidence of monophyly. Pending a comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of the ‘‘ thomasomyine’ ’ group, however, there is no more restricted taxonomic category within which to assess the relationships of T. ucucha. Phenetically, the new species most closely resembles T. hylophilus Osgood (1912), an allopatric taxon that occurs in northeastern Colombia and western Venezuela. 3 Thomasomys ucucha and T. hylophilus overlap in all external and craniodental measurements (table 1), and they share many qualitative traits in common: both lack genal vibrissae but have moderately long mystacial hairs; relatively long tails; similarly proportioned hind feet; flattened fronto­nasal profiles; narrow interorbital regions with rounded supraorbital margins; straight, vertically oriented zygomatic plates; broad palates; alisphenoid struts that separate buccinator­masticatory and accessory oval foramina; complete (pattern 1) carotid arterial circulations; oblong braincases; small, uninflated auditory bullae; relatively hypsodont molars that lack well developed cingula and stylar cusps; and unilocular­hemiglandular stomachs. Despite this suite of resemblances, ucucha and hylophilus differ in other points of comparison. In dorsal cranial view (fig. 7), Thomasomys ucucha is distinguishable at a glance by its relatively short, broad rostrum and by its widely flaring, rounded zygomatic arches. By contrast, the rostrum of T. hylophilus is proportionately longer and narrower, and the zygomatic arches converge anteriorly from a widest point across their squamosal roots. In ventral view, the incisive foramina of ucucha are absolutely shorter than those of hylophilus, and they are also proportionately shorter in relation to the diastema: the ratio LIF / LD averages about 61 % in the former species versus about 76 % in the latter. The posterior opening of the alisphenoid canal, a tiny perforation behind each parapterygoid fossa in ucucha, is a conspicuously larger orifice in hylophilus. Thomasomys ucucha and T. hylophilus are also dentally distinctive. The upper incisors of ucucha are broader, more deeply pigmented, and more procumbent than those of hylophilus. In side­by­side comparisons, the contrast in upper incisor procumbency between the two species is visually obvious (fig. 7), but measurements provide a more objective basis for discrimination. Measured with an ocular goniometer, the chord that subtends the exposed greater curvature of these teeth defines an average anterior angle of 87 ° with the occlusal plane of the upper molars in ucucha (observed range, 85 – 89 °; N = 14), whereas the homologous angle has an average value of 77 ° in hylophilus (observed range, 76 – 79 °; N = 11). 4 A correlated species difference in the lower incisors is likewise apparent: whereas the lower incisor root of ucucha is contained in a prominent capsular process on the lateral mandibular surface just below the base of the coronoid process (fig. 8 A), the lower incisor root of hylophilus terminates in an inconspicuous bony ridge without a distinct process (fig. 8 B). The molar dentition provides several additional traits of diagnostic value. The upper toothrow is shorter on average in Thomasomys ucucha than in T. hylophilus (table 1), a difference that is primarily attributable to the size of M 3. That tooth ranges from 0.8 to 1.0 mm long and accounts for just 21 % of average toothrow length in ucucha, versus 1.2 – 1.3 mm long and 25 % of toothrow length in hylophilus. Correlated species differences in occlusal complexity are also apparent (fig. 9). In the upper molars, the anterolophs and mesolophs of M 1 and M 2 are much more weakly developed in ucucha than in hylophilus, and M 3 usually lacks a distinct lingual fold (hypoflexus) in ucucha that is consistently present in hylophilus. In the lower dention, the anteromedian flexid of m 1 is shallower, less persistent with wear, or altogether absent in ucucha, whereas this fold is always present and usually persistent in hylophilus. Incisor procumbency alone is sufficient to set Thomasomys ucucha apart from other congeners, only two of which approach the orthodont condition (defined in footnote 4, above). However, both of those species — T. australis with an index value of 85 °, and T. daphne with an index value of 90 ° — have chisel­like incisors that are much shorter and narrower than the more scooplike, longer, and broader teeth of ucucha (fig. 10), and neither species closely resembles ucucha in other respects. Thomasomys ucucha is readily distinguished from other congeneric species known to occur in the Cordillera Oriental of northern Ecuador (T. aureus, T. baeops, T. cinnameus, T. erro, T. paramorum, T. rhoadsi, T. silvestris; see below) by numerous qualitative and quantitative character differences that are summarized in table 2.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFBFFFC5FF24FF53DA07DBE6.taxon	discussion	REMARKS: In a previous list of Papallacta mammals (Voss, 1988: table 43), I referred to this taxon as ’’ Thomasomys sp. ’’ FIELD OBSERVATIONS: The 42 specimens of Thomasomys ucucha that I collected near Papallacta in 1978 and 1980 were trapped at elevations ranging from 3380 to 3720 m. Of these, 3 were taken in grassy páramo, 22 were taken in the shrubby páramo / forest ecotone or in grassy glades surrounded by forest, and 17 were taken deep inside Subalpine Rain Forest. Most recorded captures were on the ground, of which 18 were in rabbit trails or runways through dense grass or low herbs; 16 were in runways through moss or damp litter, under mossy debris, or at the bases of mossy trees; and 7 were along the wet margins of small streams. Only one specimen was trapped off the ground, on the mossy limb of a low tree. Other muroid species that were trapped syntopically (in the same habitats) with T. ucucha include Akodon latebricola, Akodon mollis, Anotomys leander, Chilomys instans, Microryzomys altissimus, M. minutus, Neusticomys monticolus, T. aureus, T. baeops, T. cinnameus, T. erro, and T. paramorum.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFB8FFDAFC8FFA06D9A5DC35.taxon	description	OTHER MATERIAL: Three additional specimens (FMNH 43164 – 43166) were collected on Cerro Antisana by R. Olalla in 1930. TAXONOMY: The genus Caenolestes was revised by Bublitz (1987), who examined eight of the specimens listed above and identified the local population as belonging to the nominotypical subspecies C. f. fuliginosus. FIELD OBSERVATIONS: The 40 specimens of Caenolestes fuliginosus that I collected near Papallacta in 1978 and 1980 were trapped at elevations ranging from 3380 to 3840 m. Of these, 39 were taken in Subalpine Rain Forest, and one was trapped in a Polylepis thicket in the páramo zone. Most recorded captures were on the ground: 24 along mossy or muddy stream margins, 5 in narrow runways or tunnels through wet moss, 5 in wet leaf litter beneath tangled shrubs or branches, and 3 in shallow cavities beneath earth banks or root mats. Only three individuals were taken above ground level, on the inclined trunks or horizontal limbs of low, moss­covered trees.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA7FFDAFF3AFA11DFA1DA46.taxon	description	OTHER MATERIAL: A single specimen (AMNH 63844) labeled ‘‘ Guamanı´ ’’ on one side of the original label and ‘‘ Cerro Guamanı´ ’’ on the other side was collected by the Olallas in 1922. Additional shrews from the Cordillera Oriental include one (MCN 150) collected at Papallacta by C. Olalla in 1931 and another (QCAZ 307) collected on Antisana by R. Sierra in 1985 (D. Tirira, personal commun.). TAXONOMY: The Ecuadorean species of Cryptotis were recently reviewed by Vivar et al. (1997), who identified the Guamaní specimen (AMNH 63844) as C. montivagus. The five Papallacta shrews, collected only a few kilometers from Guamanı´, appear to be indistinguishable from AMNH 63844 and presumably represent the same taxon. However, measurements of these six specimens (from Papallacta and Guamanı´) indicate that they have slightly narrower zygomatic plates and broader interorbits than typical montivagus, and side­by­side comparisons reveal that they have much less robust anterior unicuspids than any specimen of the type series (AMNH 47197 – 47201; from Bestión, in the Ecuadorean province of Azuay). The possible taxonomic significance of these and other differences (V. Pacheco and N. Woodman, personal commun.) remain to be determined by a more comprehensive evaluation of character variation in Ecuadorean shrews.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA7FFDAFF3AFA11DFA1DA46.taxon	discussion	REMARKS: In a previous list of Papallacta mammals (Voss, 1988: table 43), I misidentified this material as Cryptotis thomasi (Merriam, 1897). FIELD OBSERVATIONS: The five shrews that I collected near Papallacta in 1980 were taken at elevations ranging from 3570 to 3660 m. Of these, three were trapped on the ground in runways or small tunnels through moss in Subalpine Rain Forest, one was found dead on a trail in Subalpine Rain Forest, and one was trapped in a runway though tall grass at the páramo / forest ecotone.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA7FFDAFF5BFCF6DA78DA2A.taxon	description	OTHER MATERIAL: Apparently none. TAXONOMY: The white­eared Neotropical Didelphis were recently revised by Lemos and Cerqueira (2002), who distinguished the Andean form (D. pernigra) as a distinct species from the predominantly lowland taxon D. albiventris Lund, with which it was formerly synonymized (e. g., by Gardner, 1993). FIELD OBSERVATIONS: The single specimen of Didelphis pernigra that I collected near Papallacta in 1980 was taken at 3040 m in a wire live trap set on the ground in wet secondary growth surrounded by pastures and agricultural fields.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA7FFD9FC82FACCD97CDEB6.taxon	description	OTHER MATERIAL: I examined a single specimen (AMNH 66739) collected at 4145 m elevation on Cerro Antisana by G. H. H. Tate in 1923. Another specimen (MNCN 3652), which I have not seen, was collected on Antisana by M. Jiménez de la Espada in 1865 (J. Barreiro, personal commun.). TAXONOMY: There has been no comprehensive revision of the wolf­like canid taxa currently referred to this species. According to Lönnberg (1922) and Cabrera (1958) the local form is reissii Hilzheimer (1906), which was originally described from material collected on Volcán Cotopaxi (0 ° 40 ' S, 78 ° 26 ' W).	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA7FFD9FC82FACCD97CDEB6.taxon	discussion	REMARKS: According to Emerson and Johnson (1960) and Black (1982), Pseudalopex culpaeus is common in the páramo landscapes surrounding Cerro Antisana.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA4FFD9FF2EFB7FD821DE92.taxon	materials_examined	OTHER MATERIAL: I examined a single specimen (AMNH 66719) that was collected by H. E. Anthony at 4145 m on Cerro Antisana in 1923. Other material that I have not seen (Diego Tirira, personal commun.) includes one specimen from 4200 m on Cerro Antisana (QCAZ 0638), and another from 2800 m near Cuyuja (E of Papallacta on the road to Baeza; QCAZ 0726). TAXONOMY: Ecuadorean hog­nosed skunks are currently referred to Conepatus semistriatus (e. g., by Cabrera, 1958; Kipp, 1965; Wozencraft, 1993), but no substantive analysis of character data is apparently available to justify this convention. 5 Van Gelder’s (1968) detailed analysis of variation in cranial and pelage traits within a very large Uruguayan sample of Conepatus could serve as the basis for a much­needed revision of this genus in South America.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA4FFD9FF2EFB7FD821DE92.taxon	discussion	REMARKS: Although none were seen in the course of our fieldwork, skunks are said to be common in local páramo habitats (Black, 1982).	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA4FFD9FF36FE7BDA81DC04.taxon	description	OTHER MATERIAL: A single specimen (FMNH 43291) was collected by R. Olalla at 4000 m elevation on Cerro Antisana in 1934. TAXONOMY: The pampas cat genus Lynchailurus was revised by García­Perea (1994), who examined FMNH 43291 and identified the local population as L. pajeros thomasi Lönnberg (1913). Wozencraft (1993) included this taxon in the synonymy of Oncifelis colocolo (Molina).	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA4FFD9FC90FD84D857D9B8.taxon	description	OTHER MATERIAL: I examined two specimens from the Stockholm museum collected by L. Söderström in 1918. One (NHRS A 58 / 6157) is an adult male labeled ‘‘ side of Guamani near Papallacta 11,000 ft’ ’ [3353 m], and the other (NHRS A 58 / 6145) is an adult female labeled ‘‘ below Papallacta 9000 ft’ ’ [2743 m]; both are skins and skulls in good condition.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA4FFD9FC90FD84D857D9B8.taxon	materials_examined	TAXONOMY: Lönnberg (1921) and Hall (1951) examined the material described above and provided qualitative descriptions and measurements in their systematic accounts. However, whereas Lönnberg identified the local population as Mustela macrura Taczanowski (1874), Hall treated macrura and other South American long­tailed weasels as subspecies of M. frenata (the type locality of which is in Mexico). Hall’s concept of frenata (the basis for Wozencraft’s [1993] synonymy) implies genetic continuity among populations of long­tailed weasels from Canada to Bolivia, a hypothesis that has yet to be tested by any geographically extensive analysis of morphometric or molecular data.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA4FFD9FC90FD84D857D9B8.taxon	discussion	REMARKS: Although uncommon and rarely seen, weasels are locally regarded as pests that enter houses to kill domesticated guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus). Hall (1951: 402) incorrectly copied the locality of NHRS A 58 / 6157 as ‘‘ Nára [sic] Papallacta’ ’ from the Swedish museum label rather than from Söderström’s original (English) specimen tag. 5 Kipp’s (1965) paper, cited as a generic revision by Wozencraft (1993), only analyzed character data from Patagonian material.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA4FFD9FF6CFC05DA1EDBB2.taxon	description	OTHER MATERIAL: Apparently none.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA4FFD9FF6CFC05DA1EDBB2.taxon	discussion	REMARKS: Pumas are hunted along the crest of the Cordillera Oriental, where they are said to follow the movements of deer in remote parts of the páramo near Cerro Antisana (Emerson and Johnson, 1960), but I did not observe any in the course of my work near Papallacta.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA5FFD8FF15FD1CDA56DAE6.taxon	description	OTHER MATERIAL: An adult female specimen and a juvenile male, formerly preserved in the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (Madrid), were collected on Cerro Antisana in 1865 by M. Jiménez de la Espada. This material was originally reported by Cabrera (1917), whose taxonomic identification can be accepted as authoritative. Unfortunately, both specimens were lost during the Spanish Civil War or its aftermath, when the collections of the MNCN remained uncurated for several decades (J. Barreiro, personal commun).	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA5FFD8FF15FD1CDA56DAE6.taxon	discussion	REMARKS: The huemal is thought to be extinct in Ecuador (Albuja, 1991), and only four specimens appear to have ever been collected there. Mysteriously, all are now lost. In addition to the Madrid specimens, a single skull (MACN 31.69) alleged to have come from eastern Ecuador was formerly preserved in Buenos Aires (Tirira, 1999), and another specimen (from ‘‘ Ecuador’ ’ without other locality data) was formerly in the FMNH (Elliot, 1907).	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA5FFD8FF5AFA28D848DC56.taxon	description	OTHER MATERIAL: The holotype of Odocoileus peruvianus consul Lönnberg is an adult female specimen (NHRS A 63 / 0094), collected by L. Söderström in 1920 at ‘‘ Guamani on the road to Papallacta, altitude 12,000 feet’ ’ (Lönnberg, 1922: 13; O. Grönwall, personal commun.). Additional specimens of white­tailed deer (AMNH 66743, 66744) were collected by H. E. Anthony between 4100 and 4300 m on Cerro Antisana in 1923. TAXONOMY: Cabrera (1961) and most subsequent authors (including Grubb, 1993) treated Odocoileus peruvianus as a synonym or subspecies of O. virginianus, but all South American white­tailed deer appear to be diagnostically distinct from the latter species (Molina and Molinari, 1999). Pending a comprehensive revision of the Neotropical forms of Odocoileus, I recognize peruvianus (with type locality in the Peruvian highlands) as a distinct species following Molina and Molinari’s (1999) provisional taxonomy.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA5FFD8FF5AFA28D848DC56.taxon	discussion	REMARKS: White­tailed deer are said to be common throughout the páramo landscapes surrounding Cerro Antisana (Black, 1982), but I did not observe any in the course of my fieldwork.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA5FFD8FD73FCD3D88CD923.taxon	description	OTHER MATERIAL: The holotype of the northern pudu (BMNH 96.1.28.5), which I have not examined, was collected in the ‘‘ Paramo of Papallacta’ ’ by native collectors in the employ of Ludovic Söderström, the Swedish consul in Quito (de Winton, 1896). Another Söderström specimen (which I did examine) is NHRS A 58 / 4636, a dried skin with the skull inside labeled ‘‘ Papallacta 12000 ft’ ’, collected in 1908 and originally reported by Lönnberg (1913). TAXONOMY: The genus Pudu was revised by Hershkovitz (1982), who reviewed the scant literature on these rare deer and summarized information about the diagnostic characters, geographic distribution, and natural history of P. mephistopheles.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA5FFD8FD73FCD3D88CD923.taxon	discussion	REMARKS: Pudus are avidly hunted everywhere they occur and appear to be uncommon or hard to observe throughout their dwindling geographic range. I did not see any in the course of my fieldwork near Papallacata, but Black (1982) reported recent sightings of spoor in the páramos surrounding Cerro Antisana.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA5FFD8FF40FF53DAB4DD12.taxon	description	OTHER MATERIAL: Apparently none.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA5FFD8FF40FF53DAB4DD12.taxon	discussion	REMARKS: The local population of spectacled bears was studied by Suárez (1988), who described their seasonal distribution and diet on the eastern slopes of Cerro Antisana. No locally collected specimens, however, are apparently preserved in museums. Although I did not see any bears in the course of my fieldwork, signs of their foraging (consisting of shredded terrestrial bromeliads whose pith is an important item of diet) were sometimes observed above treeline.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA5FFDFFD59F9E6DB91DCB6.taxon	materials_examined	SPECIMENS COLLECTED: None. OTHER MATERIAL: Two specimens of the woolly tapir are known from Papallacta. The first (AMNH 70521), consisting of a skull collected by the Olallas (a family of professional collectors) in 1925, is unaccompanied by other geographic data. The second (AMNH 149370) is the skin and skull of an individual that was captured alive by C. Cordier, who sold it to the New York Zoological Society in 1952; an index card in the AMNH collection archives indicates that this specimen was captured at 11,500 ft (3505 m), but Hershkovitz (1954: 476) reported the capture elevation as 3150 m. TAXONOMY: The taxonomy of living Neotropical tapirs was revised by Hershkovitz (1954), who diagnosed the subgenus Pinchacus and established that Roulin’s is the oldest valid name for the woolly montane species.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA5FFDFFD59F9E6DB91DCB6.taxon	discussion	REMARKS: Woolly tapirs have long been hunted in the vicinity of Papallacta and Antisana, from which hides and meat are still exported for sale in the street markets of Quito (Downer, 1997). Although tracks and droppings are commonly encountered (Black, 1982), the animal itself is seldom seen.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA2FFDEFF58FC62DA5DDCED.taxon	description	OTHER MATERIAL: None. TAXONOMY: Originally described as Microxus latebricola, this species has long been known only from the holotype (AMNH 67506) collected by G. H. H. Tate in 1924 at Hacienda San Francisco, a locality in the Cordillera Oriental east of Ambato (Anthony, 1924 b: 3). A peculiar feature of AMNH 67506 is its intensely black fur, which is quite unlike the normal coloration of any other muroid rodent species known to me. Anthony (1924 b) considered and rejected the hypothesis that the holotype was a melanistic mutant, but the rediscovery of this taxon at Papallacta lends support to the opposite conclusion. Except in pelage color, the Papallacta specimens are qualitatively indistinguishable from the type of latebricola, and measurements of the type fall within the range of morphometric variation in the Papallacta series. By contrast with the unnatural appearance of AMNH 67506, the Papallacta skins are dark grizzled­brown dorsally, and the ventral fur is gray­based with a superficial brownish wash; the ears, feet, and the dorsal surface of the tail are likewise dark brown, but the ventral surface of the tail is covered with long silvery hairs. Because brownish pigmentation is almost universal among the small akodontine rodents that inhabit humid Andean habitats, it is more parsimonious to assume that this is the normal coloration of Akodon latebricola, and that the coloration of the type is not, in point of fact, typical. This species closely resembles Akodon bogotensis Thomas (1895 a), another eastern­ Andean species that was formerly referred to the genus Microxus. Among other shared similarities, both species differ from typical Akodon by their very small size; possession of a slender, tapering rostrum flanked by very shallow zygomatic notches (versus a shorter, stouter rostrum flanked by deeper zygomatic notches); origin of the superficial masseter from an indistinct tubercle or scar on the anterior margin of the zygomatic plate (versus from a scar posteroventral to the anterior edge of the zygomatic plate); confluence of the buccinator­ masticatory foramen and foramen ovale (versus buccinator masticatory foramen and foramen ovale accessorius separated by a vertical strut of the alisphenoid); proportionately shorter incisive foramina, wider parapterygoid fossae, and more inflated bullae; and highly distinctive molars with opposite (versus alternating) cusps. Although phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial DNA sequences do not support the separate generic status of Microxus (as represented by the type species mimus Thomas; see Smith and Patton [1993] and references cited therein), sequence data from latebricola and bogotensis have not been analyzed. Despite their current generic classification, these two northern­Andean endemics clearly form a distinct clade that merits nomenclatural recognition. Subtle but consistent craniodental differences (M. Gómez­Laverde, personal commun.) distinguish latebricola from bogotensis and support their current status as valid species.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA2FFDEFF58FC62DA5DDCED.taxon	discussion	REMARKS: In a previous list of Papallacta mammals (Voss, 1988: table 43), I misidentified this material as Microxus bogotensis. FIELD OBSERVATIONS: The 21 specimens of Akodon latebricola that I collected near Papallacta in 1980 were trapped at elevations ranging from 3380 to 3840 m. Of these, 16 were taken in the shrubby páramo / forest ecotone, 2 in Subalpine Rain Forest, 2 in grassy glades surrounded by Subalpine Rain Forest, and 1 in grassy páramo. All recorded captures were on the ground: 9 in runways under dense bunch grass, 8 among mixed grasses and mossy shrubs, and 4 under moss mats or low herbs. Unlike other murid rodents that I collected near Papallacta (which appear to be strictly nocturnal), several individuals of A. latebricola were captured in broad daylight, between the time when traps were checked just after dawn and when they were rebaited in the late afternoon.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA3FFDEFF70FC51D884DB3D.taxon	description	OTHER MATERIAL: Three additional specimens were collected at ‘‘ Tablon, road to Papallacta’ ’ with recorded elevations of 10,500 – 11,500 ft [3200 – 3505 m] by L. Söderström in 1903 and 1913. Another nine specimens (AMNH 47156 – 47164) taken by the same collector in 1914 are labeled ‘‘ Mt. Antisana 12000 feet’ ’ [3658 m]. Forty­two more specimens (AMNH 66450 – 66491) were collected by H. E. Anthony and G. H. H. Tate between 4115 and 4570 m on Antisana in 1923. Lastly, three specimens (AMNH 67330, 67332, 67334) collected in 1924 by R. Olalla are labeled ‘‘ Mt. Guamanı´, road to Papallacta’ ’ with recorded elevations of 12,000 – 13,000 ft [3658 – 3962 m]. TAXONOMY: The Papallacta material closely resembles the type of Akodon mollis altorum as originally described by Thomas (1913) based on a specimen collected at 2600 m in the Ecuadorean province of Cañar. No substantive analysis of character data, however, is available to support the current hypothesis (Cabrera, 1961; Musser and Carleton, 1993) that altorum, a highland taxon, is really conspecific with the geographically adjacent lowland forms mollis Thomas (1894) and fulvescens Hershkovitz (1940). As noted by Myers and Patton (1989), Akodon mollis as currently recognized has a very large geographic range and exhibits substantial geographic variation. Given their conclusion that fumeus Thomas (1902) — another taxon formerly ranked as a subspecies or synonym of mollis — is a valid species, a comprehensive revision of this complex is long overdue. FIELD OBSERVATIONS: The 16 specimens of Akodon mollis that I collected near Papallacta in 1980 were trapped at elevations ranging from 3600 to 4160 m. Of these, 13 were taken in the shrubby páramo / forest ecotone, and 3 in grassy páramo. All recorded captures were on the ground: 5 in tunnels among the bases of tall bunch grass, 5 among wet litter under mossy shrubs, 4 in runways through mixed bunch grass and bushes, 1 in a rabbit trail beneath low herbaceous cover, and 1 beneath an earth bank.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA3FFDDFCAFFBE1D9ABDEFD.taxon	description	OTHER MATERIAL: None. TAXONOMY: The murid rodent tribe Ichthyomyini was revised by Voss (1988), who summarized available information about the diagnostic morphological characters of Anotomys leander based in part on this material. FIELD OBSERVATIONS: The 12 specimens of Anotomys leander that I collected near Papallacta in 1978 and 1980 were trapped at elevations ranging from 3600 to 3750 m. All were taken along swift, cold, turbulent streams bordered by Subalpine Rain Forest or grassy páramo. Eight recorded captures were in traps set on rocky ledges or gravel beneath undercut banks at the water’s edge, but four specimens were trapped on rocks or logjams surrounded by swift current. More detailed habitat information about this series was summarized by Voss (1988: 412 – 413).	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA0FFDDFF68FE3EDA03DA09.taxon	description	OTHER MATERIAL: None. TAXONOMY: The morphologically distinctive genus Chilomys Thomas (1897 a) is currently thought to contain only a single valid species, C. instans (Thomas, 1895 b); another nominal taxon, fumeus Osgood (1912) is either a subspecies or synonym according to Cabrera (1961) and Musser and Carleton (1993). The Papallacta specimens closely resemble the holotype of instans (BMNH 95.10.14.1, from Bogota´) in qualitative characters, but they have slightly broader interorbits and shorter molar rows. A revision of this long­neglected northern­Andean endemic genus is necessary in order to evaluate the taxonomic significance of character variation among these and other specimens from Ecuador, Colombia, and western Venezuela. FIELD OBSERVATIONS: The three specimens of Chilomys instans that I collected near Papallacta in 1980 were trapped at elevations ranging from 3600 to 3690 m. One specimen was trapped on a mossy log over a stream in Subalpine Rain Forest, another on the ground in a narrow runway beneath mossy shrubs in the same habitat, and the third in a mossy tunnel beneath bunch grass in the páramo / forest ecotone.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA0FFDDFF3DFA32DF36DBD5.taxon	description	OTHER MATERIAL: Three specimens collected by L. Söderström in 1913 and 1914 are labeled ‘‘ Papallacta 11,000 ft’ ’ (AMNH 47068, 47071) or ‘‘ Tambo above Papallacta 12,000 ft’ ’ (AMNH 47069). Four others (AMNH 66577 – 66580) were collected by G. H. H. Tate in 1923 on Cerro Antisana at 13,500 – 13,600 ft [4116 – 4146 m]. TAXONOMY: The genus Microryzomys was revised by Carleton and Musser (1989), who provided morphological diagnoses of both currently recognized species based in part on the material listed above and below. FIELD OBSERVATIONS: The 14 specimens of Microryzomys altissimus that I collected near Papallacta in 1978 and 1980 were trapped at elevations ranging from 3124 to 3840 m. Of these, five were taken in the shrubby páramo / forest ecotone, four in grassy páramo, and three in Subalpine Rain Forest; two captures in anthropogenic habitats (secondary vegetation surrounded by cow pastures) were the only ones below 3600 m. All recorded captures were in traps set on the ground, five of which were placed along the margins of small streams; of the remaining nine captures (away from streams), six were in runways under tall bunch grass and / or low shrubs mixed with grass, two were in relatively open sites without grass inside the forest, and one was under a mossy bank.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA0FFDCFC80FB59DB87DE88.taxon	description	OTHER MATERIAL: A single specimen (AMNH 46804) collected by L. Söderström in 1914 is labeled ‘‘ Papallacta 11,000 ft’ ’. TAXONOMY: Carleton and Musser (1989) reviewed the morphological characters and taxonomy of this species, based in part on the material listed above. FIELD OBSERVATIONS: The six specimens of Microryzomys minutus that I collected near Papallacta in 1978 and 1980 were trapped at elevations ranging from 3040 to 3570 m. Of these, three were taken in dense secondary growth surrounded by pastures (below 3200 m), and three were in Subalpine Rain Forest (above 3300 m). Five specimens were trapped on the ground (two on the banks of small streams, two under tangles of mossy debris, one inside a hollow trunk), but one was trapped on the mossy limb of a small tree.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA1FFDCFF37FDB3D90CDBDA.taxon	description	OTHER MATERIAL: None. TAXONOMY: The murid rodent tribe Ichthyomyini was revised by Voss (1988), who provided a morphological diagnosis of the genus Neusticomys and its constituent species based in part on this material. FIELD OBSERVATIONS: The six specimens of Neusticomys monticolus that I collected near Papallacta in 1978 and 1980 were trapped on the ground at elevations ranging from 3042 to 3719 m. Of these, three were taken along small rivulets descending narrow ravines choked with secondary vegetation, and three others were taken along the wet margins of larger streams bordered by Subalpine Rain Forest or grassy páramo vegetation.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA1FFDCFF6BFB41D8D8DB22.taxon	description	OTHER MATERIAL: Nine specimens in the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH 66624 – 66632) were collected by H. E. Anthony and G. H. H. Tate between 4115 and 4570 m on Cerro Antisana in 1923. Other specimens from the vicinity of Papallacta are labeled ‘‘ Papallacta 11,500 ft about’ ’ (AMNH 46824, collected by L. Söderström in 1903) and ‘‘ Antisana 12,000 ft’ ’ (AMNH 36293 – 36296, collected by W. B. Richardson in 1913).	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA1FFDCFF6BFB41D8D8DB22.taxon	materials_examined	TAXONOMY: The genus Phyllotis was revised by Pearson (1958) and by Hershkovitz (1962), both of whom examined the material listed above. However, whereas Pearson referred the local population to the subspecies P. haggardi fuscus Anthony (1924 a), Hershkovitz attributed phenotypic variation among samples of P. haggardi to clinal environmental factors and did not recognize subspecific taxa. Reithrodontomys (Aporodon) mexicanus (Saussure)	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA1FFDCFF6BFB41D8D8DB22.taxon	description	SPECIMENS COLLECTED: 8.9 km (by road) W Papallacta, 12,480 ft (UMMZ 127159). OTHER MATERIAL: None. TAXONOMY: The single available specimen of a harvest mouse from the Papallacta region, a fluid­preserved old adult with extracted skull, is referable to Reithrodontomys mexicanus as that taxon was recognized in Hooper’s (1952) generic revision. According to Hooper, three valid subspecies of R. mexicanus are present in northern Ecuador, including soderstromi Thomas (1898), milleri Allen (1912), and eremicus Hershkovitz (1941). Unfortunately, none can be effectively diagnosed by cranial characters, and meaningful pelage color comparisons are impossible with the alcohol­bleached material at hand. FIELD OBSERVATIONS: The specimen I collected in 1978 was trapped at an elevation of 3754 m next to a rocky stream bordered by grassy páramo vegetation.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA1FFD0FC9BFBE9D848DEB2.taxon	description	SPECIMENS COLLECTED: 6.2 km (by road) W Papallacta, 11,700 ft (AMNH 248281, 248498; UMMZ 127114, 155621 – 155624, 155626, 155707); Río Papallacta valley [3 – 5 km by trail NNW Papallacta], 11,100 ft (UMMZ 155625). OTHER MATERIAL: None. TAXONOMY: The holotype of Thomasomys aureus (BMNH 7.1.1.104) consists of the skin only of a specimen collected by Louis Fraser, allegedly at Pallatanga (1 ° 59 ' S, 78 ° 57 ' W; 1500 m above sea level) in the Ecuadorean province of Chimborazo (Allen, 1914; Ellerman, 1941; Cabrera, 1961), or at Gualaquiza (3 ° 24 ' S, 78 ° 33 ' W; 971 m above sea level) in the Ecuadorean province of Morona­Santiago (Thomas, 1920). Neither locality, however, is within the usual altitudinal range of this species (ca. 3000 – 4000 m), and the exact provenance of Fraser’s Ecuadorean material is uncertain due to inadequate labelling and the lack of detailed field records (Gardner, 1983). Despite the absence of cranial material and a definite geographic datum, however, the type serves to establish that aureus is a distinctively large, shaggy rat with grizzled yellowish­brown dorsal fur; yellow­washed, gray­based ventral fur; long, blackish mystacial vibrissae; dark, broad hind feet with semiopposable fifth digits; and a tail that is much longer than the combined length of head­and­body. Other Ecuadorean specimens with these external characters exhibit the qualitative craniodental characters listed in table 2 and approximate the range of morphometric variation summarized in table 3. Among the several nominal taxa currently synonymized with Thomasomys aureus by Musser and Carleton (1993), the same qualitative and morphometric traits are shared by princeps Thomas (1895 a) from the eastern Andes of Colombia and by altorum Allen (1914) from the western Andes of Ecuador. Other putatively synonymous taxa, however, differ conspicuously from aureus in side­byside morphological comparisons: popayanus Allen (1912) from the western Andes of Colombia and nicefori Thomas (1921) from the Colombian central Andes have substantially shorter (33 – 34 mm) hind feet and smaller (6.0 – 6.6 mm) molar toothrows, whereas praetor Thomas (1900) from northern Peru has grayish dorsal fur, pale­silvery ventral fur, pale hind feet, shorter tail, narrower interorbit, and a broad, distinctively flattened braincase. These three taxa were first treated as conspecific with T. aureus by Cabrera (1961), who (as usual) offered no explanation for his nomenclatural changes. In view of such trenchant character differences, at least four species appear to be represented in this complex: T. aureus (including altorum and princeps), T. praetor, and T. popayanus (possibly including nicefori). FIELD OBSERVATIONS: The 10 specimens of Thomasomys aureus that I collected near Papallacta in 1978 and 1980 were all taken in Subalpine Rain Forest at elevations ranging from 3380 to 3570 m. Six were trapped in well­worn paths through mats of moss and liverworts on horizontal tree limbs, and four were trapped on the ground. Of the latter, two were trapped at the edge of a stream, one was trapped among tall grass in a clearing, and one was trapped in a runway through dense mats of moss.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFADFFD0FC8CFE66DF00D9B8.taxon	description	Figures 11 – 13 SPECIMENS COLLECTED: 6.2 km (by road) W Papallacta, 11,700 ft (AMNH 248499; UMMZ 127117, 155630 – 155632, 155708, 155739); Río Papallacta valley (3 – 5 km by trail NNW Papallacta), 11,100 ft (UMMZ 155629); 1.4 km (by road) E Papallacta, 9,980 ft (UMMZ 127118, 155627, 155628, 155767). OTHER MATERIAL: Another specimen (KU 109495) was collected by W. E. Duellman in 1967 near Laguna Papallacta at 3350 m elevation. TAXONOMY: The type material of Thomasomys baeops consists of a single specimen (BMNH 98.8.1.7) collected near the Río Pita in the Ecuadorean province of Pichincha, from which a small series of topotypes is also available for comparisons. The Papallacta series is essentially indistinguishable from this material in qualitative characters of the skin and skull, as well as in measurements (table 4). No synonyms of T. baeops are currently recognized. FIELD OBSERVATIONS: The 12 specimens of Thomasomys baeops that I collected near Papallacta in 1978 and 1980 were trapped at elevations ranging from 3040 to 3565 m. Of these, one was taken in the shrubby páramo / forest ecotone, seven were in Subalpine Rain Forest, and four were in dense thickets of secondary growth at the bottom of a narrow ravine surrounded by pastures. Eight specimens were trapped on the ground: three along the wet margins of small streams, three in narrow trails through mossy debris and damp leaf litter, one under a mossy log, and one in a hole in a bank under the roots of a tree. Four specimens were trapped on the mossy branches of small trees.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFAAFFD6FF33FB27D9D5DD20.taxon	description	Figures 11 – 13 SPECIMENS COLLECTED: 1.6 km (by road) W Papallacta, 10,500 ft (UMMZ 155668 – 155670); Río Papallacta valley [3 – 5 km by trail NNW Papallacta], 11,100 ft (AMNH 155671, 155800). OTHER MATERIAL: None. TAXONOMY: This material of Thomasomys cinnameus was the first to be reported (by Voss, 1988: table 43) since the original description based on a single specimen collected at 8000 ft (2438 m) near Hacienda San Francisco, Provincia Tunguragua, Ecuador (Anthony, 1924 b). Side­by­side comparisons indicate that the Papallacta series closely resembles the holotype (AMNH 67401) in all qualitative and most quantitative characters. Although the holotype slightly exceeds the Papallacta specimens in several external and craniodental measurements (table 5), the differences are so small and the number of Papallacta specimens (five) is so few that these discrepancies do not seem taxonomically significant. One of the smallest known species of the genus, Thomasomys cinnameus is currently regarded as a subspecies or junior synonym of T. gracilis Thomas (1917), originally described from a specimen collected at Machu Picchu in southern Peru (Cabrera, 1961; Musser and Carleton, 1993). However, the hypothesis that cinnameus and gracilis (with type localities separated by 1500 km of highly dissected mountainous terrain) are conspecific is unsupported by any published analysis or discussion of character data. Rather, my examination of both holotypes and other representative material 6 indicates that these are unambiguously diagnosable taxa that should be recognized as distinct species. Although similar to Thomasomys gracilis in size, external proportions, and pelage coloration, T. cinnameus consistently lacks genal vibrissae, long black tactile hairs of the upper cheek that are consistently present in gracilis. Among other trenchant craniodental comparisons, cinnameus is distinguished by (1) incisive foramina that are widest posteriorly, behind the maxillary / premaxillary suture; (2) absence of sphenopalatine vacuities; (3) smaller and less inflated auditory bullae; and (4) larger and more hypsodont molars with weakly developed cingula and stylar cusps. By contrast, gracilis exhibits (1) incisive foramina that are widest anteriorly, at or near the maxillary / premaxillary suture; (2) large sphenopalatine vacuities that perforate the bony roof of the mesopterygoid fossa on each side of the basisphenoid / presphenoid suture; (3) larger and more inflated auditory bullae; and (4) smaller, brachydont molars with better developed cingula and stylar cusps. Thomasomys hudsoni Anthony (1923) is another small Ecuadorean taxon that has been treated without explanation as a synonym or subspecies of T. gracilis (see Cabrera, 1961; Musser and Carleton, 1993). However, I agree with Anthony (1924 b) that hudsoni is a distinct species, differing from both gracilis and cinnameus in details of coloration and craniodental morphology. Unlike any specimens of the other small species, the type of hudsoni (AMNH 47690, from Bestión in Provincia Azuay) has a rostrum that is peculiarly produced beyond the incisors as a flaring bony tube with a concave (rather than convex) dorsal profile. As in cinnameus (and unlike gracilis) genal vibrissae and sphenopalatine vacuities are absent in hudsoni, but as in gracilis (and unlike cinnameus) the incisive foramina are widest anteriorly (near the maxillary / premaxillary suture). The auditory bullae of hudsoni are larger and more inflated than those of cinnameus but smaller and less inflated than those of gracilis. Unfortunately, the molars of the type (and only known specimen) of hudsoni are too worn to support confident dental comparisons. FIELD OBSERVATIONS: The five specimens of Thomasomys cinnameus that I collected near Papallacta in 1980 were trapped at elevations ranging from 3200 to 3380 m. Of these, three were taken among mossy boulders in an old lava flow that impounds the Río Tambo to form Laguna Papallacta (fig. 1), and two were trapped on the ground in Subalpine Rain Forest in the valley of the Río Papallacta 3 – 5 km (by trail) NNW of the town.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFABFFD4FC96FD12DAC6D9B8.taxon	description	SPECIMENS COLLECTED: 6.2 km (by road) W Papallacta, 11,700 ft (UMMZ 155711); Río Papallacta valley [3 – 5 km by trail NNW Papallacta], 11,100 ft (UMMZ 155640 – 155642, 155712, 155713); 1.4 km (by road) E Papallacta (AMNH 248283; UMMZ 155633 – 155639, 155709, 155710); 9 km (by road) E Papallacta, 9280 ft (UMMZ 127133). OTHER MATERIAL: None. TAXONOMY: Thomasomys erro was originally described on the basis of a single specimen (AMNH 68195) collected by the Olallas on the ‘‘ upper slopes of Mt. Sumaco, exact altitude unknown, but probably 8000 – 9000 feet [2440 – 2740 m], at head of the Río Suno, a tributary of the Río Napo, eastern Ecuador; June 10, 1924 ’’ (Anthony, 1926: 5). Although only about 50 km SE of Papallacta, Volcán Sumaco (0 ° 34 ' S, 77 ° 38 ' W) is an isolated peak that is separated from the main range of the Cordillera Oriental by the lowland valley of the Río Quijos (fig. 14). Populations of montane organisms on the upper slopes of Sumaco are therefore likely to be ecologically disjunct from those in the vicinity of Papallacta. The Papallacta specimens are the only additional material of Thomasomys erro to have been collected since 1924 and merit close comparison with the holotype (AMNH 68195). No noteworthy differences in pelage color or other external characters are apparent, however. The skull of AMNH 68195 is partially crushed, so only an incomplete set of measurements can be taken, but most of these fall within the range of variation observed among the Papallacta specimens; the exceptions are two molar dimensions in which the type is slightly larger (table 6). In all qualitative craniodental comparisons, the holotype appears to be indistinguishable from the Papallacta series and appears to represent the same taxon. Cabrera (1961) listed Thomasomys erro as a subspecies of T. cinereiventer Allen (1912) without explanation, and no discussion of character information has been published to justify the current treatment of erro as a junior synonym of that species (e. g., by Musser and Carleton, 1993). However, side­by­side comparisons of the holotypes and other representative material of erro and cinereiventer do not support the hypothesis that these taxa are conspecific. Among other differences, typical cinereiventer from the Cordillera Occidental of southern Colombia 7 is a much bigger animal with longer hind feet (33 – 36 mm); deeper zygomatic notches; less inflated interorbital region; more strongly convergent zygomatic arches; more elongate (less globular) braincase; broader and more vertically oriented zygomatic plates; consistently separate buccinator­masticatory and accessory oval foramina; larger (5.7 – 6.2 mm), incipiently lophodont molars with interpenetrating lingual and labial flexi (see illustrations and discussion of this trait in Voss, 1993); and relatively much broader incisors. Other Colombian taxa that are currently considered to be subspecies or synonyms of T. cinereiventer — including contradictus Anthony (1925) from the Cordillera Central and dispar Anthony (1925) from the Cordillera Oriental — are smaller than the nominotypical form but do not exhibit any other noteworthy similarities with T. erro. FIELD OBSERVATIONS: I collected 17 specimens of Thomasomys erro in the vicinity of Papallacta, at elevations ranging from 2830 to 3570 m. Of these, 11 were taken in dense secondary vegetation, 5 in Subalpine Rain Forest, and 1 in Upper Montane Rain Forest. All recorded captures were on the ground. Eleven specimens were trapped in runways through wet leaf litter and mossy debris; three were trapped beneath mossy logs, branches, or roots; and one was trapped inside the trunk of a hollow tree.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FFA9FFD4FD7FFF53D8A0D9B8.taxon	description	Figures 11 – 13 SPECIMENS COLLECTED: 10.6 km (by road) W Papallacta, 12,600 ft (UMMZ 155662 – 155667); 7.5 km (by road) W Papallacta, 12,000 ft (UMMZ 155661, 155745 – 155747); 6.2 km (by road) W Papallacta, 11,700 ft (AMNH 248282; UMMZ 127123, 127124, 155656 – 155660, 155737, 155738, 155740 – 155744, 155748 – 155751). OTHER MATERIAL: Five specimens (AMNH 46627, 46628, 46631, 46633, 46636) were collected at ‘‘ El Tambo, Papallacta 12,000 ft’ ’ by L. Söderström between 1912 and 1914, and another specimen (AMNH 46643) taken by the same collector at the same time is labeled ‘‘ Tablon, road to Papallacta 11,000 ft about’ ’. Five additional Söderström specimens (AMNH 46629, 46630, 46634, 46641, 46642) are labeled ‘‘ Cuyuco [probably Cuyuja] below Papallacta, 7000 ft’ ’. TAXONOMY: The type material of Thomasomys paramorum consists of a single specimen collected at an Ecuadorean locality that Thomas (1898: 454) described vaguely as ‘‘ Paramo, south of Chimborazo’ ’, but a small series from Urbina (1 ° 30 ' S, 78 ° 44 ' W) just a few kilometers SE of Chimborazo can be considered topotypic. Although these topotypes average larger than the Papallacta sample in most measurements and have proportionately narrower zygomatic plates (table 7), the two series are similar in qualitative external and craniodental traits and appear to represent the same taxon. No synonyms of T. paramorum are currently recognized. FIELD OBSERVATIONS: I recorded 29 captures of Thomasomys paramorum near Papallacta in 1978 and 1980 (one specimen was lost in the field), at elevations ranging from 3570 to 3840 m. Of these, 15 were taken in Subalpine Rain Forest, 7 in Polylepis thickets in the páramo, and 7 in the shrubby páramo / forest ecotone. Twenty­two captures were on the ground, of which nine were trapped in runways through moss, six along the banks of small streams, six in wet leaf litter under shrubs and branches, and one under a clump of grass. Seven specimens were trapped in low, mossy trees.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FF96FFEBFF56FB0AD821D957.taxon	description	SPECIMENS COLLECTED: None. OTHER MATERIAL: Five specimens (FMNH 43246 – 43250) collected by R. Olalla in 1934 are labeled ‘‘ Cerro Antisana, Andes Orientales’ ’, and two others (BMNH 54.553, 55.554) collected by C. S. Webb in 1937 are labeled ‘‘ Mt. Antisana, E. Andes 12,500 – 13,000 ft’ ’. TAXONOMY: Thomasomys rhoadsi was originally described from material collected in 1911 by S. N. Rhoads on Volcán (‘‘ Mt. ’’) Pichincha in the western Andes above Quito (Stone, 1914: 12). The Antisana specimens listed above were compared with a series of topotypes, which they resemble qualitatively despite averaging slightly larger in several external and craniodental dimensions (table 8). In the absence of other character differences between these samples, I assume that they represent the same taxon. An apparently related form originally described as T. rhoadsi fumeus is substantially smaller than typical rhoadsi and also differs from it in qualitative external and cranial characters as remarked by Anthony (1924 b).	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FF96FFEBFF56FB0AD821D957.taxon	discussion	REMARKS: Although Olalla’s and Webb’s labels do not state whether their specimens were collected on the eastern or western slopes of Antisana, it seems probable they were collected near Hacienda Antisana on the western side, the only inhabited site described in published accounts of visitors to this famous mountain (e. g., Orton, 1870; Whymper, 1892; Emerson and Johnson, 1960).	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FF96FFEAFC89F9D9D8D7DE66.taxon	discussion	Figures 11 – 13 SPECIMENS COLLECTED: None.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FF96FFEAFC89F9D9D8D7DE66.taxon	description	OTHER MATERIAL COLLECTED: A single specimen (FMNH 43251) was collected on Cerro Antisana by R. Olalla in 1934. TAXONOMY: Thomasomys silvestris was originally described from a large series of specimens collected on the densely forested western slope of the western Andes south of Quito in the Ecuadorean provinces of Pichincha and Bolívar (Anthony, 1924 a). I compared the Antisana specimen with the type series, which it exactly resembles in qualitative characters. The Antisana specimen is an old adult, however, with molars that are worn below the widest part of the crowns, so most of its measurements are larger than those of adults with measurable teeth in the type series (table 9). No synonyms of T. silvestris are currently recognized. REMARKS: It seems probable that the Antisana specimen of Thomasomys silvestris was collected on the western side of Antisana as previously remarked for similarly labeled specimens of T. rhoadsi collected at the same time by the same collector.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FF97FFE9FCADFEACDB97DA47.taxon	description	OTHER MATERIAL: I examined three NHRS specimens (A 58 / 2822, A 58 / 2962, A 59 / 2962) collected by Ludovic Söderström in 1911 at ‘‘ Tablon above Tumbaco’ ’ with recorded elevations of 9000 – 11,000 ft [2744 – 3354 m]. TAXONOMY: Coendou quichua is a morphologically distinctive porcupine whose diagnostic characters were accurately described by Thomas (1899). Cabrera (1961), however, treated quichua as a subspecies of C. bicolor Tschudi without providing any justification for doing so. Although Emmons (1990), Albuja (1991), Tirira (1999), and Alberico et al. (1999) have subsequently recognized that quichua is a valid species, some checklists (e. g., Woods, 1993) continue to treat this name as a synonym of bicolor. To date, no rationale has been provided for the zoogeographically incoherent and morphologically divergent collection of taxa that Cabrera (1961) lumped together as Coendou bicolor. Although this name has been applied by authors to a wide range of morphologies, specimens collected in the vicinity of the Peruvian type locality (e. g., AMNH 147500, FMNH 65799) are distinctively large porcupines (ca. 900 mm total length) with tails that are almost as long as the combined length of head­and­body; the visible dorsal pelage consists entirely of bicolored (blacktipped) quills, of which those over the forequarters are conspicuously longer than those over the lower back and rump. By contrast, C. quichua is much smaller (ca. 600 mm or less) with a proportionately much shorter tail (approximately half the length of head­andbody) and tricolored (pale­tipped) dorsal quills that are not conspicuously longer over the forequarters than on the lower back and rump. Cranially, quichua has a proportionately narrower rostrum than bicolor, smaller orbits, less expanded jugals, and less inflated frontal sinuses. Other relevant morphological comparisons will be provided in an upcoming generic revision (Voss, in prep.), but the characters given here together with other traits mentioned by Emmons (1990) and Alberico et al. (1999) are sufficient for unambiguous identifications of these dissimilar taxa.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FF97FFE9FCADFEACDB97DA47.taxon	discussion	REMARKS: The original specimen tag of NHRS A 58 / 2822 notes that the animal was ‘‘ found in the underbrush’ ’. Lönnberg (1913) originally reported this material as having been collected above Tumbaco, without mentioning the actual collecting site (Tablón). Cuniculus (Stictomys) taczanowskii (Stolzmann)	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FF97FFE9FCADFEACDB97DA47.taxon	description	SPECIMENS COLLECTED: None. OTHER MATERIAL: A single specimen that I have not examined (QCAZ 954) was collected in the páramo near Paso de Guamaní by G. Onore in 1993 (D. Tirira, personal commun.). TAXONOMY: The mountain paca is morphologically distinctive (Thomas, 1924) and was formerly distinguished generically (as Stictomys) from the lowland paca (Cuniculus paca). Although only a single species of mountain paca is currently recognized, no critical analysis of morphological or molecular data is currently available to test the hypothesis that C. taczanowskii (from Ecuador and Peru) is actually conspecific with populations from Venezuela and Colombia that were formerly known as C. sierrae (e. g., by Thomas, 1905; Krumbiegel, 1940). The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN, 1998) recently ruled that Cuniculus Brisson, 1762, is the oldest available name for pacas, previously referred by most American authors to Agouti Lacépède, 1799.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FF94FFE9FF37FACCD9D2DC56.taxon	description	OTHER MATERIAL: The type of Sylvilagus nivicola is a specimen collected at 4800 m ‘‘ en el límite de nieves perpetuas’ ’ on Cerro Antisana, about 10 km south of Papallacta (Cabrera, 1913: 6). Ten additional specimens of rabbits from Antisana (AMNH 66659 – 66668) were subsequently collected between 4115 and 4265 m by H. E. Anthony in 1923. Other material from Antisana (in the BMNH) was reported by Laurie (1955), and a few more specimens are scattered among other museums (e. g., MCN, MNCN). TAXONOMY: All of the material at hand is referable to Sylvilagus brasiliensis in the sense of Hershkovitz (1950), the last comprehensive taxonomic review of South American lagomorph taxonomy. Hershkovitz (1950) treated nivicola Cabrera (1913) as a valid subspecies of S. brasiliensis, but Laurie (1955) synonymized nivicola with S. b. andinus (Thomas, 1897 b). The current treatment (Hoffmann, 1993) of 41 nominal taxa ranging from southern Mexico to northern Argentina as synonyms or subspecies of S. brasiliensis obviously merits critical scrutiny, but is far beyond the scope of this faunal report.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
03FAB267FF94FFE9FF37FACCD9D2DC56.taxon	discussion	REMARKS: Although I did not collect any rabbits near Papallacta, they were abundant in grassy habitats throughout the páramo zone.	en	VOSS, ROBERT S. (2003): A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental. American Museum Novitates 3421: 1-48, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0082%282003%29421%3C0001%3AANSOTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2
