''Zygodontomys brevicauda'', also known as the short-tailed zygodont, short-tailed cane mouse, or common cane mouse, 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 n ...

in the genus '' Zygodontomys'' of tribe

Oryzomyini Oryzomyini is a tribe of rodents in the subfamily Sigmodontinae of the family Cricetidae. It includes about 120 species in about thirty genera,Weksler et al., 2006, table 1 distributed from the eastern United States to the southernmost parts of ...

Distribution

It occurs from Costa Rica via

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 ...

, Colombia and

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

into Guyana, Suriname,

French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic coast of South America in the Guianas. ...

and northern

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 ...

, including

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

in the Caribbean.

subspecies

It includes three subspecies: *''Zygodontomys brevicauda brevicauda'' *''Zygodontomys brevicauda cherriei'' *''Zygodontomys brevicauda microtinus''.

Diseases

Many ''Zygodontomys brevicauda'' serve as viral reservoirs, causing illnesses such as

Venezuelan hemorrhagic fever Venezuelan hemorrhagic fever (VHF) is a zoonotic human illness first identified in 1989. The disease is most prevalent in several rural areas of central Venezuela and is caused by ''Guanarito mammarenavirus'' (GTOV) which belongs to the Arenavir ...

.Salas, R., and De Manzione, N.. "Venezuelan haemorrhagic fever." Lancet. 8774.338 (1991): 1033-1037. Print.

References

Literature cited

*Duff, A. and Lawson, A. 2004. Mammals of the World: A checklist. Yale University Press, 312 pp. *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. Zygodontomys Mammals of Colombia Rodents of Central America Mammals of Trinidad and Tobago Mammals of the Caribbean Mammals described in 1893 Taxa named by Joel Asaph Allen Taxa named by Frank Chapman (ornithologist) {{Sigmodontinae-stub