Budin's chinchilla rat (''Abrocoma budini'') is a species of

chinchilla rat Chinchilla rats or ''chinchillones'' are rodents of the family Abrocomidae. This family has few members compared to most rodent families, with only nine known living species. They resemble chinchillas in appearance, with a similar soft fur and s ...

in the family Abrocomidae. Found only in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, the categorization of this species was based on analysis of four specimens which were caught among the rocks in the clefts of which it lived. It is specifically known from Otro Cerro,

Catamarca Province Catamarca () is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. The province had a population of 429,556 as per the , and covers an area of 102,602 km2. Its literacy rate is 95.5%. Neighbouring provinces are (clockwise, f ...

and known to occur in rocky areas over 3,000 meters above sea level; research shows it may be confined to Sierra de Ambato in Catamarca Province and

La Rioja La Rioja () is an autonomous communities in Spain, autonomous community and provinces of Spain, province in Spain, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital is Logroño. Other List of municipalities in La Rioja, cities and towns in the ...

Province. In 2002, Braun and Mares from the University of Oklahoma examined this specimen and confirmed it to be a separate species. Not enough is known about this species for the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

to assess its conservation status.

Taxonomy

The species was first described in 1920 by the British zoologist

Oldfield Thomas Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas (21 February 1858 – 16 June 1929) was a British zoologist. Career Thomas worked at the Natural History Museum, London, Natural History Museum on mammals, describing about 2,000 new species and subspecies for ...

, working at the

Natural History Museum, London The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum (Lo ...

. It is named in honour of Emilio Budin, an Argentine specimen collector who worked with Oldfield Thomas. Ellerman, in 1940, considered Budin's chinchilla rat to be a

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

of the

ashy chinchilla rat The ashy chinchilla rat (''Abrocoma cinerea'') is a species of chinchilla rats in the family Abrocomidae found in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. Description Their total length is , with the body being and the tail being . They have soft, ...

(''Abrocoma cinerea'') but Braun and Mares, in 2002 recognised it as being distinct.

Status

Budin's chinchilla rat is threatened by intentional and controlled burning of vegetation by cattle farmers in the area in which it lives and is not known from any protected areas. Aside from this, nothing else is known about the species. The

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

states that too little is known about this animal and its population size and trend for them to assess its conservation status, so they rate it as "

data deficient A data deficient (DD) species is one which has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as offering insufficient information for a proper assessment of conservation status to be made. This does not necessaril ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1763792 Abrocoma Mammals of Argentina Mammals of the Andes Mammals described in 1920 Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas