Deltamys Thomas 1917

Deltamys Thomas 1917, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, 20: 98.

Type Species: Deltamys kempi Thomas 1917

Species and subspecies: 1 species:

Species Deltamys kempi Thomas 1917

Discussion: Akodontini. Described as a genus, but usually treated as a subgenus of Akodon (e.g., Cabrera, 1961; Ellerman, 1941; Musser and Carleton, 1993; Reig, 1987; Smith and Patton, 1999), though not uniformly (Gyldenstolpe, 1932; Massoia, 1980 b). Status of Deltamys recently argued as a genus (Bianchini and Delupi, 1994) and diagnosis so emended (González and Massoia, 1995). In cladistic analyses of allozymes (Barrantes et al., 1993) and gene sequences (D’Elía, 2003; D’Elía et al., 2003), D. kempi emerges as a basal sister-group to other Akodon sensu stricto . By itself, this cladistic dichotomy is ambiguous with regard to its ranking as merely distinctive subgenus or separate genus; the issue deserves further consideration based on a broader sampling of akodonts and other information.