Vesper mice are rodents belonging to the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

''Calomys''. They are widely distributed in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. Some species are notable as the

vector Vector most often refers to: * Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction * Disease vector, an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism Vector may also refer to: Mathematics a ...

s of Argentinian hemorrhagic fever and Bolivian hemorrhagic fever. The genus was originally named ''Hesperomys'', but was changed to ''Calomys'' in 1962.

History

''Hesperomys'' was introduced by

George Robert Waterhouse George Robert Waterhouse (6 March 1810 – 21 January 1888) was an English natural history, naturalist. He was a keeper at the department of geology and later curator of the Zoological Society of London's museum. Early life George was born ...

in 1839 for the American rodents with cusps arranged in two series. The name combines the Greek ἑσπερος "west" and μυς "mouse". He considered it possible that species of ''Hesperomys'' would be found in the Old World, but did not doubt that the Americas were their chief abode. He included as species ''Mus bimaculatus'' (='' Calomys laucha''), ''Mus griseo-flavus'' (='' Graomys griseoflavus''), ''Mus Darwinii'' (='' Phyllotis darwini''), ''Mus zanthopygus'' (='' Phyllotis xanthopygus''), ''Mus galapagoensis'' (=''

Aegialomys galapagoensis ''Aegialomys'' is a genus of oryzomyini, oryzomyine rodents from the lowlands and mountains of western Peru and Ecuador, including the Galápagos Islands. The species in this genus have historically been placed in ''Oryzomys'', but according to c ...

''), ''Symidon hispidum'' (='' Sigmodon hispidus''), ''Mus leucopus'' (=''

Peromyscus leucopus The white-footed mouse (''Peromyscus leucopus'') is a rodent native to North America from southern Canada to the southwestern United States and Mexico. It is a species of the genus ''Peromyscus'', a closely related group of New World mice often ...

''), and the

woodrat A pack rat or packrat, also called a woodrat or trade rat, are any species in the North and Central American rodent genus ''Neotoma''. Pack rats have a rat-like appearance, with long tails, large ears, and large, black eyes. Pack rats are notice ...

s (''Neotoma'').; current nomenclature: ; In following years, authors like

Johann Andreas Wagner Johann Andreas Wagner (21 March 1797 – 17 December 1861) was a German palaeontologist, zoologist and archaeologist who wrote several important works on palaeontology. He was also a pioneer of biogeographical theory. Career Wagner was born ...

and

Spencer Fullerton Baird Spencer Fullerton Baird (; February 3, 1823 – August 19, 1887) was an American naturalist, ornithologist, ichthyologist, Herpetology, herpetologist, and museum curator. Baird was the first curator to be named at the Smithsonian Institution. He ...

expanded the genus to include additional American species, such as those placed now in '' Scapteromys'', '' Oxymycterus'', '' Abrothrix'', and ''

Peromyscus ''Peromyscus'' is a genus of rodents. They are commonly referred to as deer mice or deermice, not to be confused with the chevrotain or "mouse deer". They are New World mice only distantly related to the common house and laboratory mouse, ''M ...

''. In 1874,

Elliott Coues Elliott Ladd Coues (; September 9, 1842 – December 25, 1899) was an American army surgeon, historian, ornithologist, and author. He led surveys of the Arizona Territory, and later as secretary of the United States Geological and Geographi ...

designated ''Mus bimaculatus'' Waterhouse as the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

of ''Hesperomys''. In 1888, Herluf Winge used ''Hesperomys'' in a sense similar to modern ''Calomys'' (but confusingly placed species related to what is now known as ''Oryzomys'' in ''Calomys''), but in the same year

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 ...

argued that ''Hesperomys'' could not be separated from the

hamster Hamsters are rodents (order Rodentia) belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae, which contains 19 species classified in seven genera. They have become established as popular small pets. The best-known species of hamster is the golden or Syrian ...

s (''Cricetus''). In 1896, however, he united it with '' Eligmodontia'' instead, where it remained until he reinstated it for modern ''Calomys'' in 1916. He did not use ''Calomys'' (introduced by Waterhouse in 1837 for ''Mus bimaculatus''), because he thought it to be preoccupied by an earlier name ''Callomys'' d'Orbigny and Geoffroy, 1830. In 1962,

Philip Hershkovitz Philip Hershkovitz (12 October 1909 – 15 February 1997) was an American mammalogy, mammalogist. Born in Pittsburgh, he attended the Universities of Pittsburgh and Michigan and lived in South America collecting mammals. In 1947, he was appointed ...

noted that the

International Code of Zoological Nomenclature The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is a widely accepted Convention (norm), convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific name, scientific naming of organisms treated as animals. It is also informally known as the I ...

mandates that a name cannot be considered preoccupied even when it differs by only one letter from another, so ''Callomys'' cannot invalidate ''Calomys''. As ''Calomys'' Waterhouse, 1837, and ''Hesperomys'' Waterhouse, 1839, both had ''Mus bimaculatus'' as their type species, the two are

objective synonym In taxonomy, the scientific classification of living organisms, a synonym is an alternative scientific name for the accepted scientific name of a taxon. The botanical and zoological codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. ...

s and the older name, ''Calomys'', prevails; since then, ''Hesperomys'' has no longer been in use as a valid name.

History

References

Further reading