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.