Microtus guatemalensis Merriam 1898

Microtus guatemalensis Merriam 1898, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., 12: 108.

Type Locality: Guatemala, Huehuetenango Dept., Todos Santos, 10,000 ft (3048 m).

Vernacular Names: Guatemalan Vole.

Distribution: Highland meadows of C Chiapas, México, and C Guatemala.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Type species of Herpetomys, usually placed in Microtus, with (Bailey, 1900) or without (Hall, 1981) subgeneric division; or placed in Pitymys when used as a genus (Honacki et al., 1982; R. A. Martin, 1974). Sister species to M. oaxacensis according to cladistic interpretation of molar characters (R. A. Martin, 1995) and cytochrome b sequence data (Conroy et al., 2001). The latter evidence indicates that Herpetomys should be considered a junior synonym of Pitymys, whether used as subgenus or genus.