Small mammals of the mid-Araguaia River in central Brazil, with the description of a new species of climbing rat
Author
Rocha, Rita G.
Author
Ferreira, Eduardo
Author
Costa, Barbara M. A.
Author
Martins, Iracy C. M.
Author
Leite, Yuri L. R.
Author
Costa, Leonora P.
Author
Fonseca, Carlos
text
Zootaxa
2011
2789
1
34
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.206170
6fa16a5a-560e-432f-ad9e-f93e8bd3e90d
1175-5326
206170
Caluromys philander
(Linnaeus)
Identification.
This medium-sized marsupial has distinctive big brown eyes surrounded by brown eye-rings. Head pelage is gray with a dark stripe extending from the level of the brown ears to the nose. Dorsal pelage is warm reddish brown with long and woolly fur; ventral pelage is orangish. The tail is furred only at the basal portion. Females have two lateral folds that form the pouch.
Measurements
(n = 4): HB = 185–215, T = 233–279, HF = 32–35, E = 32–36, W = 111–269.
Distribution.
This is a widely distributed species, present from the northern South
America
in
Venezuela
and Guianas to central
Brazil
and eastern
Bolivia
, and the eastern region within the Atlantic Forest of
Brazil
(
Gardner 2007
). This is the first record of
C. philander
in the state of Tocantins.
Natural history.
Caluromys philander
is strictly arboreal (
Emmons & Feer 1997
). Three individuals were captured in traps placed from three to four meters above the ground, and one was found dead inside a pipetrap (arboreal refuges used for colonization by tree frogs). Only one individual was caught in a 30 L pitfall trap. All captures of this species took place in alluvial forests at PEC. In
September 2007
and
September 2008
, two females were captured carrying three suckling young each, and in
November 2008
, two others had rusty-colored pouches.
Vouchers
(n = 1: skull): UFES 1414.