Eligmodontia puerulus Philippi 1896

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Rodentia - Family Cricetidae, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 2, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 955-1189 : 1113

Eligmodontia puerulus Philippi 1896

Eligmodontia puerulus Philippi 1896 , Anal. Mus . Nac. Chile, Zool. Ent., 13a: 20.

Type Locality: Chile, Antofagasta Prov., San Pedro de Atacama, 3223 m.

Vernacular Names: Altiplano Laucha.

Synonyms: Eligmodontia hirtipes (Thomas 1902) ; Eligmodontia jacunda Thomas 1919 ; Eligmodontia marica Thomas 1918 ; Eligmodontia tarapacensis Mann 1945 .

Distribution: Altiplano, usually above 3000 m, of extreme S Perú, through NE Chile and WC Bolivia, to NW Argentina.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Reduced to a subspecies of E. typus by Hershkovitz (1962), but morphological ( Mann, 1978; Osgood, 1943) and karyotypic ( Kelt et al., 1991; Ortells et al., 1989; Spotorno et al., 1994) data sustain the specific recognition of E. puerulus . Further systematic review is required: e.g., Braun (1993) and Díaz and Barquez (1999) viewed hirtipes as a separate species but Anderson (1997) did not; and Galliari et al. (1996) and Mares et al. (1997) listed marica as distinct.