The taxonomic status of Nectomys saturatus Thomas, 1897 (Cricetidae: Sigmodontinae)

Autor(es)

Chiquito, Elisandra Almeida ^{[1, 2]} ; Percequillo, Alexandre Reis ^{[1, 3]}

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Lab Mamiferos, Dept Ciencias Biol, Escola Super Agr Luiz de Queiroz, Piracicaba, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ Fed Espirito, Lab Mastozool & Biogeog, Dept Ciencias Biol, Ctr Ciencias Humanas & Nat, Vitoria, Espirto Santo - Spain

^[3] Nat Hist Museum, Mammal Sect, Dept Life Sci, London - England

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: Zootaxa; v. 4550, n. 3, p. 321-339, JAN 25 2019.
• Citações Web of Science: 0

Resumo

Nectomys (Sigmodontinae, Oryzomyini) is currently composed by five species: Nectomys apicalis, N. magdalenae, N. palmipes, N. rattus, and N squamipes. These rodents have strong morphologic adaptations to semiaquatic habit and inhabit forests along river and streams in almost the entire South American continent. Although Nectomys is not a very speciose genus, 23 nominal taxa are associated with this group. Among these names is Nectomys saturatus, described in 1897 and currently allocated as synonym of N. apicalis, the west-Amazon species of Nectomys. Based on the examination of type material of the genus Nectomys, we hypothesize that Nectomys saturatus is a valid species. To test this hypothesis, we examined morphological and morphometric traits of 570 specimens of genus Nectomys of the same age class, belonging to the five recognized species, including the N saturatus type series. We analyzed the external dimensions through descriptive statistics and we assessed the variation in craniodental measurements by means of Discriminant Analysis. Our results indicate N. saturatus individuals are considerably larger than the samples of congeneric species in all external traits, and they were also discriminated from the other species in the multivariate space. Qualitatively, N. saturatus shows two exclusive traits, the presence of paralophule on M1 and almost parallel-sided interorbital region. In this sense, our set of evidences indicates that our hypothesis should be accepted and the name Nectomys saturatus represents a valid species. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 12/03381-2 - O gênero Nectomys Peters, 1860 (Cricetidae, Sigmodontinae): análise dos espécimes depositados nas instituições norte-americanas
• Beneficiário: Elisandra de Almeida Chiquito
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Exterior - Estágio de Pesquisa - Doutorado
• Processo FAPESP: 09/16009-1 - Sistemática, evolução e diversificação da subfamília Sigmodontinae na América do Sul: a tribo Oryzomyini
• Beneficiário: Alexandre Reis Percequillo
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Jovens Pesquisadores
• Processo FAPESP: 16/20055-2 - Sistemática e biogeografia da Tribo Oryzomyini (Cricetidae: Sigmodontinae) na América do Sul
• Beneficiário: Alexandre Reis Percequillo
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Exterior - Pesquisa
• Processo FAPESP: 10/18846-5 - Sistemática do gênero Nectomys Peters, 1860 (Cricetidae, Sigmodontinae)
• Beneficiário: Elisandra de Almeida Chiquito
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Doutorado