Chapter 2. Taxonomy, Distribution, and Natural History of the Genus Heteromys (Rodentia: Heteromyidae) in Central and Eastern Venezuela, with the Description of a New Species from the Cordillera de la Costa

Abstract

Abstract Heteromys anomalus is widely distributed along the Caribbean coast of South America and had been considered the only spiny pocket mouse present in Venezuela for several decades. Recent taxonomic studies in western Venezuela, however, have documented the presence of H. australis from the Cordillera de Merida and described H. oasicus from the Peninsula de Paraguana. Here, we revise the genus Heteromys in central and eastern Venezuela as well as in Trinidad and Tobago. Morphological comparisons with samples of H. anomalus from throughout its known range in Venezuela and with representatives of all other recognized species of the genus indicate the existence of a species new to science, which we describe as Heteromys catopterius (the Overlook Spiny Pocket Mouse). This species ranges from 350 to 2425 m in elevation in the Cordillera de la Costa in northern Venezuela, with the vast majority of records above ca. 700 m. In central and eastern Venezuela, H. anomalus is found in the surrounding lowlands an...