The Panamanian spiny pocket mouse (''Heteromys adspersus''), also known as Peter's spiny pocket mouse, is a species of heteromyid rodent

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

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 Co ...

. It is very closely related to Salvin's spiny pocket mouse, and has been placed in the same

species group In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

by some authors. It was formerly placed in the genus ''Liomys'', which is now recognized to be paraphyletic and has been subsumed into ''

Heteromys ''Heteromys'' is a genus of rodents in the family Heteromyidae, commonly known as spiny pocket mice. It is the only extant genus in the subfamily Heteromyinae which also includes the extinct genera '' Diprionomys'' and ''Metaliomys''. ''Hetero ...

''.

Description

The Panamanian spiny pocket mouse is very similar in appearance to other species of its genus. Adults range from in total length, including a tail in length, with males being larger than females. The animal has chocolate to greyish brown fur, with yellowish underparts and limbs. Over the flanks and upper parts of the body, the brown fur is interspersed with darker spines and occasional orange hairs. The tail has a moderate covering of hair, and is darker on the upper than on the lower surface.

Distribution and habitat

Panamanian spiny pocket mice are found only in southern and western Panama, along the Pacific coast between

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

and Chepo, and inland as far as the headwaters of rivers flowing into the Atlantic. It inhabits hilly scrubland, secondary forests and semi-arid savannah country below about .

Behaviour and biology

Panamanian spiny pocket mice are nocturnal, and feed mainly on the nuts of palm trees such as ''

Bactris ''Bactris'' is a genus of spiny palms which are native to Mexico, South and Central America and the Caribbean. Most species are small trees about tall, but some are large trees while others are shrubs with subterranean stems. They have simple o ...

'' and '' Attalea'', although they also eat other plant material and some insects. They spend the day sleeping in burrows, which have multiple entrances and are also used to store seeds. They locate their food primarily by scent, and are able to carry seeds in their cheek pouches. They are solitary, inhabiting home ranges averaging just . Although aggressive when kept together in captivity, in the wild they may reach population densities of up to , with significant overlap between home ranges. Breeding takes place between December and May, in the dry and early wet seasons. Females give birth to one or two litters of two to four pups each year. Few individuals survive for more than a year in the wild, although a maximum lifespan of eighteen months has been recorded.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q94503 Heteromys Rodents of Central America Mammals described in 1874 Taxa named by Wilhelm Peters Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Isthmian–Pacific moist forests