[Aztlan] Even more rats, and a photo (sure looks like a rat)

[Dave Pentecost]

Sorry, still tracking the rats. There's a photo in the Wikipedia entry
for Hispid Cotton Rat. Note the reference to Sigmodon toltecus, the
Toltec cotton rat which occurs in Mexico and Guatemala, according to
Infonatura:

Hispid Cotton Rat
>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hispid Cotton Rat

The Hispid Cotton Rat, Sigmodon hispidus, is a rodent species long
thought to occur in parts of South America, Central America, and
southern North America. However, recent taxonomic revisions, based on
mitochondrial DNA sequence data, have split this widely distributed
species into three separate species. Carroll et al. (2004) indicate
that the southern edge of the S. hispidus distribution is likely near
the Rio Grande River where it meets the northern distribution of S.
toltecus (formerly S. h. toltecus). The range of S. toltecus extends
from northern Mexico south into Chiapas where it occurs in sympatry
with S. hirsutus (formerly S. h. hirsutus). They have been used as the
laboratory animals.


Also go to Infonatura ( http://www.natureserve.org/infonatura/ ) and
search for Sigmodon toltecus (URL too long to add here)

"...the three-species arrangement would have S. hispidus in the United
States and north-central Mexico, S. toltecus in southern Mexico, and
S. hirsutus in Central and South America (Peppers and Bradley 2000)"

Cheers
Dave




On Tue, May 20, 2008 at 4:18 PM, Dave Pentecost
<dave.pentecost at gmail.com> wrote:
> In fact, Wikipedia has an entry on "New World Rats and Mice" that says
> nothing about "true rats":
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_rats_and_mice
>
> According to other sources regarding the largest of these animals, the
> genus Neotoma (also known as the woodrat), it is distributed from
> Nicaragua northward through the western United States and southern
> Canada.
>
> I have a newfound interest in this due to the sudden plague of rats on
> my block in the gentrified East Village of New York. When we were a
> slum (circa 1980) we had no such problem. Now that we have gardens
> across from trendy restaurants who put their trash out every night in
> plastic bags, the situation is Dickensian. Of course these are the
> "true" Norway rats who predate us all on the island.
>
> On Tue, May 20, 2008 at 3:55 PM, Karen Bassie <rick.bassie at nucleus.com> wrote:
>> Wikipedia is wrong (again). There are a large number of New World rats.
>> Take a look at Fiona Reid's A field guide to the Mammals of Central
>> America and Southeast Mexico. K.
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>>
>>
>
>
>
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