''Cerradomys'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of oryzomyine

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are na ...

s from eastern

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

, and central

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

found in

cerrado The ''Cerrado'' (, ) is a vast ecoregion of tropical savanna in eastern Brazil, particularly in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Minas Gerais, and the Federal District. The core areas of the Cerrado biome are t ...

Caatinga Caatinga (, ) is a type of semi-arid tropical vegetation, and an ecoregion characterized by this vegetation in interior northeastern Brazil. The name "Caatinga" is a Tupi word meaning "white forest" or "white vegetation" (''caa'' = forest, v ...

and

Gran Chaco The Gran Chaco or Dry Chaco is a sparsely populated, hot and semiarid lowland natural region of the Río de la Plata basin, divided among eastern Bolivia, western Paraguay, northern Argentina, and a portion of the Brazilian states of Mato Gro ...

habitats. The species in this genus have historically been placed in ''

Oryzomys ''Oryzomys'' is a genus of semiaquatic rodents in the tribe Oryzomyini living in southern North America and far northern South America. It includes eight species, two of which—the marsh rice rat (''O. palustris'') of the United States and ...

'', but according to

cladistic Cladistics (; ) is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups (" clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is typically shared derived char ...

research, they are not more closely related to the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

of ''Oryzomys'' than species in some other genera are. Its sister group may be a clade of oryzomyines living in open or aquatic habitats, comprising, among others, ''

Aegialomys ''Aegialomys'' is a genus of oryzomyini, oryzomyine rodents from the lowlands and mountains of western Peru and Ecuador, including the Galápagos Islands. The species in this genus have historically been placed in ''Oryzomys'', but according to c ...

'', ''

Nectomys ''Nectomys'' is a genus of rodent in the tribe Oryzomyini of family Cricetidae. Musser and Carleton, 2005. It is closely related to ''Amphinectomys'' and was formerly considered congeneric with ''Sigmodontomys''. It consists of five species, which ...

'' and ''

Sigmodontomys ''Sigmodontomys'' is a genus of rodent in the tribe Oryzomyini of family Cricetidae. It is related to ''Nectomys'' and ''Melanomys'' and used to be included in ''Nectomys''. It includes two species, ''Sigmodontomys alfari'' and the much rarer ''S ...

''. '' Sooretamys angouya'', also formerly in ''Oryzomys'', is another relative; it has been placed in the same group as the species of ''Cerradomys'' in the past. The generic name ''Cerradomys'' is a compound of the word "Cerrado" and the Ancient Greek ''mys'' "mouse" and therefore means "Cerrado mouse". The dorsal pelage is brownish, the ventral pelage, greyish. It has small ears and a relatively long tail. There are crowns of hair on the hindfeet at the bases of the claws. In addition to its external classification, the internal classification of the group is also subject to change. Until 2002, all members of the group were placed in a single species, then called ''Oryzomys subflavus'', but since then, eight new species have been described, often on the basis of

karyotypic A karyotype is the general appearance of the complete set of metaphase chromosomes in the cells of a species or in an individual organism, mainly including their sizes, numbers, and shapes. Karyotyping is the process by which a karyotype is disce ...

differences, but two of these later turned out to represent the same species. The genus currently contains the following species: *'' Cerradomys akroai'' *'' Cerradomys goytaca'' *'' Cerradomys langguthi'' *'' Cerradomys maracajuensis'' *''

Cerradomys marinhus ''Cerradomys marinhus'', also known as Marinho's rice rat, is a rodent species from South America. It is found in Minas Gerais, Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest count ...

'' *'' Cerradomys scotti'' (including ''Oryzomys andersoni'') *'' Cerradomys subflavus'' *'' Cerradomys vivoi''

References

*Musser, G.G. and Carleton, M.D. 2005. Superfamily Muroidea. Pp. 894–1531 in Wilson, D.E. and Reeder, D.M. (eds.)
''Mammal Species of the World: a taxonomic and geographic reference. 3rd ed''
Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols., 2142 pp. *Percequillo, A.R., Hingst-Zaher, E. and Bonvicino, C.R. 2008
Systematic review of genus ''Cerradomys'' Weksler, Percequillo and Voss, 2006 (Rodentia: Cricetidae: Sigmodontinae: Oryzomyini), with description of two new species from Eastern Brazil
''American Museum Novitates'' 3622:1–46. *Tavares, W.C., Pessôa, L.M. and Gonçalves, P.R. 2011
New species of ''Cerradomys'' from coastal sandy plains of southeastern Brazil (Cricetidae: Sigmodontinae)
(subscription required). ''Journal of Mammalogy'' 92(3):645–658. ** {{Taxonbar, from=Q745738 Rodent genera Taxa named by Marcelo Weksler Taxa named by Alexandre Reis Percequillo