Mysateles gundlachi (Chapman, 1901)

Charles A. Woods, 1993, Order Rodentia - Suborder Hystricognathi, Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition), Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 771-806 : 802

Mysateles gundlachi (Chapman, 1901) . Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 14:313 -323.

TYPE LOCALITY: "Nueva Gerona, Isle of Pines" (now Isle of Youth or Isla de la Juventud) .

DISTRIBUTION: N regions of Isle of Youth (south of W Cuba).

STATUS: IUCN - Indeterminate. Abundant in specific forest types at several areas in the north of the Isle of Youth, but rapid deforestation of the area is making this species increasingly uncommon, and perhaps threatened (A. Camacho, pers. comm.).

COMMENTS: Raised to specific level by Varona (1986:7). Closely related to Mysateles prehensilis . It is proposed that there are two prehensile-tailed tree hutias on the Isle of Youth. According to Varona (1986), this species is confined to forested areas of Roystones regia, Colpothrinax wrightii , and Copernicia curtissi north of the central savanna of the island, and M. meridionalis is confined to completely different forest types on the southwest side of the island south of the savanna. Mysateles gundlachi is described on the basis of the baculum, which is distinctly broad-based unlike that of M. meridionalis ; see also comments under meridionalis and prehensilis .