Aconaemys fuscus (Waterhouse 1841)

[Schizodon] fuscus Waterhouse 1842, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1841: 91.

Type Locality: Argentina, Mendoza Prov., Valle de las Cuevas; see comments.

Vernacular Names: Chilean Rock Rat.

Distribution: High Andes of Chile and Argentina (between 33 o and 41 o S).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc). Locally abundant.

Discussion: Waterhouse never designated a type specimen, which was finally designated by Thomas (1917 a). Waterhouse’s original type locality was "from Chile ", but in 1848 he added that the locality was from the Valle de las Cuevas near the Volcano of Peteroa, which would make the locality in Argentina (Pearson, 1984). Karyotype has 2n=56 and FN=108 (Gallardo and Reise, 1992).