''Neacomys minutus'', also known as the minute neacomys, the small bristly mouse,Duff, A.; Lawson, A. 2004. Mammals of the World: A checklist. New Haven: A & C Black. . or the minute spiny mouse, is a

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 ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

from

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

in the genus ''

Neacomys The genus ''Neacomys'', also known as bristly mice because of their spiny fur, includes several species of rodents in the tribe Oryzomyini of family Cricetidae. It is most closely related to ''Oligoryzomys'', ''Oreoryzomys'', and ''Microryzomys'' ...

''. It is found in

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 ...

Description

A small mouse, ''Neacomys minutus'' has a head-and-body length of and a tail of . The upper parts are clad in rather coarse fur which is dark orangish-brown and finely grizzled with black; the underparts are pale and there are short, grooved spines mixed in with the fur. The tail is sparsely haired and is bicoloured, being dark above and pale beneath. The ears are small and rounded, and the hind feet are slender and have naked soles, the central three of the five claws being considerably longer than the outer ones.

Distribution and habitat

''N. minutus'' is found in the

Amazon basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Bolivi ...

in western Brazil and eastern Peru. Its range includes the middle and lower basin of the

Juruá River The Juruá River (Portuguese ''Rio Juruá''; Spanish ''Río Yuruá'') is a southern affluent river of the Amazon River west of the Purus River, sharing with this the bottom of the immense inland Amazon depression, and having all the characteristic ...

in Amazonas State, and the adjoining part of

Loreto Region Loreto () is Peru's northernmost department and region. Covering almost one-third of Peru's territory, Loreto is by far the nation's largest department; it is also one of the most sparsely populated regions due to its remote location in the Ama ...

in Peru. Its habitat is the seasonally flooded moist broadleaf

várzea forest A várzea forest is a seasonal floodplain forest inundated by whitewater rivers that occurs in the Amazon biome. Until the late 1970s, the definition was less clear and várzea was often used for all periodically flooded Amazonian forests. Althoug ...

and the drier, upland, terra firme forest.

Ecology

Breeding takes place in both the dry and the wet season, and seems to start at a young age, as some reproductively active individuals still have unworn teeth and have not fully shed their juvenile

fur Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket t ...

. The average litter size is three; one female was found to be both pregnant and lactating. It shares its range with '' Neacomys spinosus'' but is replaced in the upper parts of the Juruá basin by ''

Neacomys musseri ''Neacomys musseri'', also known as Musser's neacomys or Musser's bristly mouse,Duff and Lawson, 2004 is a rodent species from South America. It is found in far western Brazil and southeastern Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.sv ...

''.

Status

This mouse has a very wide range and is assumed to have a stable population. It is probably able to tolerate some degree of habitat modification and it occurs in at least two protected areas, so the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

has assessed its conservation status as being of "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1766822 Neacomys Mammals described in 2000 Taxa named by James L. Patton