Calomys expulsus Lund 1841

Calomys expulsus Lund 1841, K. Danske Vidensk. Selsk. Afhandl., 8: 280.

Type Locality: Brazil, Minas Gerais State, Rio das Velhas, Lagoa Santa.

Vernacular Names: Caatinga Laucha.

Distribution: Caatinga and Cerrado formations from Pernambuco southwestwardly through Goiás, C Brazil.

Discussion: Morphologically similar to but karyotypically strongly divergent (2n = 66, FN = 68) from C. callosus (Bonvicino and Almeida, 2000), the species with which it had been previously synonymized (Hershkovitz, 1962; Musser and Carleton, 1993). Morphometric, karyotypic, distributional, and ecological distinctions from C. tener summarized by Bonvicino and Almeida (2000); those authors also noted that past faunal and ecological reports on Calomys from C Brazil, identified as C. callosus (e.g., Mares et al., 1981 a, 1989 a), probably refer to this species and-or to C. tener, which may occur sympatrically in ecotonal settings between the Atlantic Forest and Cerrado biomes. Ontogeny of cranial shape variation analyzed by Hingst-Zaher et al. (2000).