Peromyscus melanocarpus Osgood 1904

Peromyscus melanocarpus Osgood 1904, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., 17: 73.

Type Locality: México, Oaxaca, Cerro Zempoaltépec, above Yacochi.

Vernacular Names: Black-wristed Deermouse.

Distribution: Humid montane forests of Sierras de Zempoaltépec, Juárez, and Mazteca, ca. 1500-2500 m, NC Oaxaca, México.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Species group indeterminate. Restricted range and distinctive morphology substantiated by Huckaby (1980); recently documented in the Sierra Mazteca, NC Oaxaca, by Briones-Salas et al. (2001). Age, sex, and individual variation assessed by Cervantes et al. (1993 b). Nearest specific relatives uncertain: initially segregated in the megalops species group apart from the mexicanus complex by Osgood (1909) and later Carleton (1989); or arranged within an expanded mexicanus species group by Hooper (1968) and Huckaby (1980). Neither of these associations finds support in phenetic and cladistic analyses of allozymes (Rogers and Engstrom, 1992), a result that leaves the species group assignment of melanocarpus as incertae sedis. See Rickart and Robertson (1985, Mammalian Species, 241).