Oecomys bicolor (Tomes, 1860)

Velazco, Paúl M. & Patterson, Bruce D., 2019, Small Mammals Of The Mayo River Basin In Northern Peru, With The Description Of A New Species Of Sturnira (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae), Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2019 (429), pp. 1-69 : 50

Oecomys bicolor (Tomes, 1860)

VOUCHER MATERIAL: Tingana: 2 adult males ( FMNH 203502 , 203674 ) ; see table 23 for measurements.

IDENTIFICATION: We consulted descriptions and measurements of Oecomys bicolor provided by Anderson (1997), Patton et al. (2000), Voss et al. (2001), Carleton et al. (2009), Hice and Velazco (2012), Carleton and Musser (2015), Ruelas and Pardiñas (2017), and Suárez-Villota et al. (2018). No subspecies are currently recognized in O. bicolor ( Carleton and Musser, 2015; Ruelas and Pardiñas, 2017). Oecomys bicolor is distinguished from other congeneric species by the following combination of characteristics: dorsal fur ranging from orange brown to rufous brown; ventral pelage uniformly white; tail (105%–112% of head-body length) unicolored with a moderately penciled tip; skull robust, with short rostrum, narrow interorbit with finely beaded supraorbital ledges, and relatively inflated braincase; zygomatic arches slightly narrower rostrally and divergent toward braincase; bony palate with a pair of prominent posterolateral palatal pits; carotid circulatory pattern complete (sphenofrontal foramen and squamosoalisphenoid groove present, stapedial foramen small but present); and ectotympanic bullae small, exposing much of medial periotic ( Carleton and Musser, 2015; Ruelas and Pardiñas, 2017). Our specimens conform to previous descriptions of the species, and their measurements fall within the range of size variation previously documented.

REMARKS: Our specimens were captured in a flooded forest. Lareschi and Velazco (2013) reported the mites Androlaelaps fahrenholzi , Gigantolaelaps tiptoni , and Laelaps furmani from our specimens.