A new species of Phyllotis (Rodentia, Cricetidae, Sigmodontinae) from Tucumán province, Argentina

LUIS IGNACIO FERRO; JUAN JOSÉ MARTÍNEZ; RUBÉN MARCOS BARQUEZ

MAMMALIAN BIOLOGY

ELSEVIER GMBH

Año: 2010 vol. 75 p. 523 - 537

1616-5047

A new species of rodent of the genus Phyllotis is decribed based in cranial and external morphology, as well as morphometric data. Additionally, sequences of the mitochondrial gene cytochrome-b were used to asses the phylogenetic relationships. We have compared our specimens with all extant species of the genus Phyllotis and also with some species of related genera, particulary with most similar and with those that occur in the province of Tucumán and northwestern Argentina. The new species is large compared to the average size of the genus, and can be easily distinguished from all other species essentially by coloration and by cranial morphology. It is closely related to the recently described P. anitae, and these two species are, in turn, sister to P. osilae. The only two localities where the new species has been found are in the Upper Montane Forest of the southern portion of the Yungas Ecoregion, in the province of Tucumán, Argentina.