''Nephelomys devius'', also known as the Talamancan oryzomys,Musser and Carleton, 2005 Boquete rice rat, Chiriqui rice rat,Goldman, 1918, p. 80 or montane rice rat, is a species of

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 ...

in the genus ''

Nephelomys ''Nephelomys'' is a genus of South American oryzomyine rodents found in the Andes from Bolivia to Venezuela, with a westward extension into the mountains of Costa Rica. Its generic name is derived from the Ancient Greek word ''nephelê'' "mist", ...

'' of family

Cricetidae The Cricetidae are a family of rodents in the large and complex superfamily Muroidea. It includes true hamsters, voles, lemmings, muskrats, and New World rats and mice. At almost 608 species, it is the second-largest family of mammals, and has m ...

.Weksler et al., 2006, p. 18 It is found in

cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF), is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud c ...

in the highlands of

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

and western

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

. The upperparts are light brown and become lighter towards the sides. The underparts are buffy or dull white, with a whitish area at the throat. The ears are blackish, as is the nose, and the feet are yellow to brown. The tail is dark brown above and somewhat lighter below. In juveniles, the fur of the upperparts is darker. In three specimens, the total length ranges from , the combined length of the tail

vertebra The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic ...

e from , the hindfoot length from , and the skull length from . ''N. devius'' is the westernmost representative of its genus, with a related species, '' N. pirrensis'', known from eastern Panama. In contrast to that species, the chest region is marked by a white patch, as in various other ''Nephelomys'' species. The skull is more rounded, the

auditory bulla The tympanic part of the temporal bone is a curved plate of bone lying below the squamous part of the temporal bone, in front of the mastoid process, and surrounding the external part of the ear canal. It originates as a separate bone (tympanic ...

e are larger, and the fur is somewhat paler. Unlike ''

Transandinomys talamancae ''Transandinomys talamancae'' is a rodent in the family Cricetidae that occurs from Costa Rica to southwestern Ecuador and northern Venezuela. Its habitat consists of lowland forests up to above sea level. With a body mass of , it is a medium-s ...

'', possibly the closest relative of the genus ''Nephelomys'', ''N. devius'' apparently lacks

preputial gland Preputial glands are exocrine glands that are located in the folds of skin front of the genitals of some mammals. They occur in several species, including mice, ferrets, rhinoceroses, and even-toed ungulates and produce pheromones. The glands play ...

s.Weksler et al., 2006, p. 21 It was originally described, in 1902, as a species of ''Oryzomys'', ''Oryzomys devius'', and considered to be related to '' O. meridensis''.Bangs, 1902, p. 34 In 1966, it was subsumed into '' Oryzomys albigularis'', as were all other species of this group, but subsequently it was reinstated as a species. In 2006, members of the ''O. albigularis'' group were transferred into a new genus, ''Nephelomys''; since then, the species has been known as ''Nephelomys devius''.

References

Literature cited

*Bangs, O. 1902. Chiriqui Mammalia. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 39:15–52. *Duff, A. and Lawson, A. 2004. Mammals of the World: A checklist. Yale University Press, 312 pp. *Goldman, E.A. 1918. The rice rats of North America. North American Fauna 43:1–100. *Goldman, E.A. 1920. The mammals of Panama. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 69(5):1–309. *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. *Reid, F. and Samudio, R. 2008. . In IUCN. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved on 24 April 2009. * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1763256 Nephelomys Rodents of Central America Mammals described in 1902 Taxa named by Outram Bangs Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Talamancan montane forests