Philip Myers's akodont

Philip Myers's akodont (Akodon philipmyersi) is a recently described species of grass mouse from Misiones Province, Argentina. Like other grass mice, A. philipmyersi is a small, non-descript, greyish-brown mouse with prominent ears. The species was recognized as distinct from other grass mice on the basis of unique features of karyology, genetic sequence, cranial measurements, and general morphology.

Philip Myers's akodont

Data Deficient  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Cricetidae
Subfamily: Sigmodontinae
Genus: Akodon
Species:
A. philipmyersi
Binomial name
Akodon philipmyersi
Pardiñas, D'Elia, Cirignoli, Suarez, 2005

Etymology

The specific epithet for this animal, philipmyersi, is named after renowned mammalogist Philip Myers of the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology and major contributor to the Animal Diversity Web. Philip Myers has made major contributions in determining the relationships among members of the genus Akodon.

Description

A. philipmyersi is described as having a small body size, tail, and limbs relative to other members of the genus. The animals have a karyotype of (2n=36, FN=42). The species differs from its only sympatric relative, A. montensis, by 11.3-11.4% sequence divergence at the cytochrome b gene. A. montensis can also be distinguished by its 2n=24 chromosome number and by its preference for forest instead of grassland habitat.

Natural history

A. philipmyersi seems to prefer grassland areas with tall vegetation. Remains of the animals have also been found in owl pellets.

Relation to other species

Pardiñas et al. (2005) suggest that the closest relative to A. philipmyersi is A. lindberghi, but this is only weakly supported statistically. Morphometric analyses and a shared number of chromosomes (n=36), also point to a similarity between these two species. The two are distinct both morphometrically and genetically (cytochrome b divergence = 10.1%).

gollark: (So they can be patched before release)
gollark: I bet that they have AI systems to attempt to find ridiculously convoluted loopholes in the law anyway.
gollark: Police: *untackle <@202533943705206784>*
gollark: I mean, you still get OS updates for I think 5 years.
gollark: Honestly, iPhones suffer *less* planned obsolescence than Androids.

References
  1. D'Elia, G.; Pardinas, U. (2019). "Akodon philipmyersi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2019: e.T136753A22383004. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.