Genus Neotomys Thomas, 1894

PABLO E. ORTIZ; J. PABLO JAYAT

Mammals of South America, Volume 2

The University of Chicago Press

Año: 2015; p. 99 - 101

The monotypic Neotomys is a very distinctive genus among sigmodontine rodents that is restricted to the Central Andes. Members of Neotomys are commonly known as Andean swamp mice, ?ratón de hocico rojo?, or red nose Neotomys, because the tips and sides of the muzzle are bright rufous colored. The genus ranges from about 10°S in central Peru southward throughout most of southern and western Bolivia and northernmost Chile to northwestern Argentina at about 29°S. The single species, Neotomys ebriosus, occurs in high altitude grasslands of the Puna environments above 2,700 m elevation as well as in humid grasslands below that elevation below the limits of the Puna in the southern part of its range. Because Neotomys is known from only a few specimens and localities, much remains to be understood about its distribution, natural history, and patterns of geographic variation.