Pattonomys punctatus ( Thomas, 1899 )

Emmons, Louise H. & Fabre, Pierre-henri, 2018, A Review of the Pattonomys / Toromys Clade (Rodentia: Echimyidae), with Descriptions of a New Toromys Species and a New Genus, American Museum Novitates 2018 (3894), pp. 1-52 : 30-31

Pattonomys punctatus ( Thomas, 1899)

Loncheres punctatus Thomas 1899: 153 (original description).

TYPE SPECIMEN AND TYPE LOCALITY: The holotype (by original designation, BMNH 98.12.1.18), an adult male skin and skull, one of three specimens collected 2 July 1898 by G.K. and S.M. Cherrie, at “Caicara, Orinoco,” Bolívar, Venezuela .

4 In the 1830s de Blainville chaired Natural History and Anatomy at MNHN, and I. Geoffroy St.-Hilaire noted that he owed de Blainville and Roulin for “communication” of the specimens to him (1838: 887). He later added that those specimens were poorly preserved and half putrified, but that afterward he received another in good condition (presumably after describing the species) from which he redescribed it in much greater detail (1840: 422). Cécile Callou ( MNHN) has kindly researched the history and provenence of MNHN-ZM-MO-1995-1397, which when examined in 1999 by L.H.E. was labeled A-7276 (an 1850 catalog number) and two other numbers. It has now been recataloged as a syntype, with a new number (C. Callou, personal commun.).

DIAGNOSIS AND DESCRIPTION: The largest species of the genus in nearly all measurements ( table s 5, 6). Head grizzled gray, a mixture of black finely streaked with white, with large whitish postauricular patches. Pelage of back pale gray-based, yellowish agouti streaked with black, with rusty tints on posterior middorsum, rear of rump slightly darker than midback. Blackbanded, white-tipped aristiforms on rump only (two specimens from Apure), or a few also on midback (the holotype and a specimen from Bolívar); fine underhairs rusty. Sides of head and shoulders, and tops of feet, grizzled gray. Underparts sharply demarcated pale gray or white with pale buff on anterior and inguinal areas; inner limbs white. Tail clothed distally with fine dusky hairs, slightly paler below. Cranium robust, with wide, strongly developed supraorbital shelves angled upward and raised above the frontals in old individuals; parietal crest strongly developed. Zygomatic arches strongly bowed outward in dorsal view ( fig. 9E ). Jugal robust and dorsoventrally deep. Upper incisors orthodont ( fig. 7E ). Masticatory and buccinator foramina separate ( fig. 15A ). Palatal notch wider than in other congeners, with outwardly bowed sides bordering a wide canal. Molar rows slightly diverge posteriorly to accommodate the wider mesopterygoid fossa ( fig. 10E ). Palate wide, about as wide as the molars between the roots of M1. Incisive foramina narrow and parallel sided. Auditory tympanic bullae not inflated, the lateral profile of the anterior bulla nearly flat ( fig. 7E ).

GEOGRAPHIC RANGE AND HABITAT: Known only from Venezuela near the Rio Orinoco and its tributaries in Apure and Bolívar states. Perhaps from gallery forests, as the localities are near rivers in regions generally of seasonally flooded grassland (llanos) .

SPECIMENS EXAMINED: VENEZUELA: Bolívar, Caicara, Río Orinoco ( BMNH 98.12 .1.18 [holotype]), 95.12.1.20, 52.12.3.21, 93.12.1.19; AMNH 171389 , 171391 , 171392 , 29872 *, 29873); Hato La Florida, 35 km ESE Caicara ( USNM 406402 ); Apure, 38 km NNW Puerto Paez, Río Cinaruco ( USNM 374741 , 374742 *) .

Figures

FIG. 9. Crania, dorsal view. A, Toromys grandis AMNH 93601; B, T. rhipidurus BMNH 28.7.21.89 (holotype); C, T. sp. nov., FMNH 55483 (holotype), D, Leiuromys occasius. AMNH 71897; E, Pattonomys punctatus BMNH 98.12.1.18 (holotype); F, P. flavidus USNM 63218 (holotype); G, P. carrikeri AMNH 130790; H, P. semivillosus USNM 280205. Black arrow in A indicates recurved parietal-interparietal suture, white arrow the expanded squamosal shelf.

FIG. 7. Crania and mandibles, lateral view. A, Toromys grandis AMNH 93601; B, T. rhipidurus BMNH 28.7.21.89 (holotype); C, T. sp. nov., FMNH 55483 (holotype), D, Leiuromys occasius. AMNH 71897; E, Pattonomys punctatus BMNH 98.12.1.18 (holotype); F, P. flavidus USNM 63218 (holotype); G, P. carrikeri AMNH 130790; H, P. semivillosus USNM 280205. Black arrow in F indicates the deep mandible of P. flavidus relative to its congeners.

FIG. 15. Pattonomys basicrania. A, Pattonomys punctatus USNM 374741; B, P. carrikeri USNM 456429. Note separate masticatory and buccinator foramina (arrows), robust extra bony rings below meatus, wide mesopterygoid fossa, and less inflated auditory tympanic bullae in A; joined foramina and more inflated bullae in B.

FIG. 10. Crania, palatal view. A, Toromys grandis AMNH 93601; B, T. rhipidurus BMNH 28.7.21.89 (holotype); C, T. sp. nov., FMNH 55483 (holotype), D, Leiuromys occasius. AMNH 71897; E, Pattonomys punctatus BMNH 98.12.1.18 (holotype); F, P. flavidus USNM 63218 (holotype); G, P. carrikeri AMNH 130790; H, P. semivillosus USNM 280205.