Reithrodon auritus (G. Fischer 1814)

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Rodentia - Family Cricetidae, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 2, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 955-1189 : 1165

Reithrodon auritus (G. Fischer 1814)

[Mus] auritus G. Fischer 1814 , Zoognosia, Vol. 3: 71.

Type Locality: Argentina, Buenos Aires Prov., pampas south of Buenos Aires, south bank of the Río de la Plata (as restricted by Hershkovitz, 1959 a:349) .

Vernacular Names: Hairy-soled Conyrat.

Synonyms: Reithrodon auritus (Desmarest 1819) ; Reithrodon caurinus Thomas 1920 ; Reithrodon cuniculoides Waterhouse 1837 ; Reithrodon evae Thomas 1927 ; Reithrodon flammarum Thomas 1912 ; Reithrodon hatcheri J. A. Allen 1903 ; Reithrodon marinus Thomas 1920 ; Reithrodon obscurus J. A. Allen 1903 ; Reithrodon pachycephalus ( Philippi 1900) ; Reithrodon pampanus Thomas 1916 ; Reithrodon physodes (Illiger 1815) ; Reithrodon physodes ( Olfers 1818) ; Reithrodon spegazzinii ( Ameghino 1889) .

Distribution: Isolated records in the Pampean region, N and C Argentina; more or less continuously distributed over the Patagonian region, sea level- 3000 m, from C Argentina and adjacent Chile through Tierra del Fuego (see Ortiz et al., 2000; Pardiñas and Galliari, 2001:Fig. 3).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: See the weighty Mammalian Species account (No. 664) of Pardiñas and Galliari (2001) for discrimination from R. typicus , remarks on the type locality, review of fossil synonyms and numerous paleontological occurrences (middle Pliocene-Holocene), and distribution of the four conventionally recognized subspecies (Cabrera, 1961), "whose boundaries are highly hypothetical." Pardiñas (1995) allocated the late Pleistocene Bothriomys spegazzinii , described by Ameghino (1889) from Argentinian sediments, as a synonym of R. auritus . Reports of the species from the Malvinas (= Falkland) Isls remain unconfirmed (see Pardiñas and Galliari, 2001). Also see account of R. typicus , formerly included as a subspecies.