Microryzomys minutus (Tomes)

VOSS, ROBERT S., 2003, A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental, American Museum Novitates 3421, pp. 1-48 : 23

Microryzomys minutus (Tomes)

SPECIMENS COLLECTED: 6.2 km (by road) W Papallacta (UMMZ 155678); Río Papallacta valley [3–5 km by trail NNW Papallacta], 11,100 ft (UMMZ 155679, 155801); 1.4 km (by road) E Papallacta (UMMZ 155797); 1.6 km (by road) E Papallacta, 10,250 ft (AMNH 248278; UMMZ 127126).

OTHER MATERIAL: A single specimen (AMNH 46804) collected by L. Söderström in 1914 is labeled ‘‘Papallacta 11,000 ft’’.

TAXONOMY: Carleton and Musser (1989) reviewed the morphological characters and taxonomy of this species, based in part on the material listed above.

FIELD OBSERVATIONS: The six specimens of Microryzomys minutus that I collected near Papallacta in 1978 and 1980 were trapped at elevations ranging from 3040 to 3570 m. Of these, three were taken in dense secondary growth surrounded by pastures (below 3200 m), and three were in Subalpine Rain Forest (above 3300 m). Five specimens were trapped on the ground (two on the banks of small streams, two under tangles of mossy debris, one inside a hollow trunk), but one was trapped on the mossy limb of a small tree.