Distribution and morphological comparisons between Akodon fumeus, A. sylvanus and others sympatric Northwestern Argentinian Akodon

SANDOVAL, M. L.; L. I. FERRO; L. V. CARRIZO

Mendoza, Argentina

Congreso; International Mammalogical Congress; 2009

International Federation of Mammalogists

Species contained in the genus Akodon comprise one of the largest, most complex, and taxonomically less understood groups of South American rodents. Northwestern Argentina (NWA) is inhabited by at least 10 species of this genus. However, most of the taxonomic revisions dealing with Akodon species emphasized their comparisons between specimens from Peru and Bolivia. Although many species present in NWA are shared with Peru and Bolivia, others, such as A. aliquantulus, A. budini, A. spegazzinii, and A. sylvanus, are not. Possibly because of this, the taxonomy of the Akodon species inhabiting NWA is not fully resolved and has been subject of much controversy. Two particularly controversial species are Akodon fumeus Thomas 1902 and Akodon sylvanus Thomas 1921. Recently a redescription of A sylvanus differentiated this species from many others NW Argentinian Akodon species. However, A. fumeus was not considered in these comparisons. A. fumeus was included in Argentina for the first time in the province of Jujuy. After that, it was questioned the identifications of those specimens, arguing that do not belong to A. fumeus, and proposed the exclusion of A. fumeus of the argentine mammal fauna. Later, it was confirmed the presence of the species in Argentina and it was recorded in the province of Salta. Many features of cranial morphology and morphometry of the NWA specimens are clearly matching which those of A. fumeus from Bolivia and Peru, and distinguish it from all the species that inhabit the same area. Our goal is to point out the major characteristics that allow the recognition of A. fumeus from others species of Akodon that coexist in the Yungas forest of NWA in the provinces of Jujuy and Salta (A. budini, A. lutescens, A. simulator, A. sylvanus) and to clarify the distributional ranges of each individual species in NW Argentina.