Oryzomys couesi (Alston, 1877) . Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1876:756 [1877].

TYPE LOCALITY: Guatemala, Alta Verapaz Dept., Coban .

DISTRIBUTION: Extreme S Texas, USA; Mexico, excluding NC plateau region, south through most of Central America, to NW Colombia (see Hershkovitz, 1987a); including Jamaica and Isla Cozumel.

SYNONYMS: albiventer, antillarum, apatelius, aquaticus, aztecus, azuerensis, bulleri, cozumelae, crinitus, fulgens, gatunensis, goldmani, jalapae, Iambi, mexicanus, peninsulae, peragrus, pinicola, regillus, richardsoni, richmondi, rufinus, rufus, teapensis, zygomaticus .

COMMENTS: Retained as a species by Goldman (1918) until Hall (1960) considered it only subspecifically distinct from O. palustris . Benson and Gehlbach (1979) returned O. couesi to specific status based on morphological contrasts with O. p. texensis in supposed area of intergradation. Karyotype reported by Benson and Gehlbach (1979) and Haiduk et al. (1979); morphometric comparisons to O. palustris by Humphrey and Setzer (1989).

Following Hall's (1960) example, other insular or localized subspecies—namely, antillarum, azuerensis, cozumelae, fulgens, gatunensis, and peninsulae (see Handley, 1966a; Hershkovitz, 1971; Jones and Lawlor, 1965)—were swept under O. palustris . They are here included in O. couesi because of geographic proximity, but their placement, together with other Central American populations referred to O. couesi, should be critically reviewed.