Toromys rhipidurus
Creators: name: Emmons, Louise H.
name: Fabre, Pierre-henri
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Rodentia
Echimyidae
Toromys
Toromys rhipidurus

description: Toromys rhipidurus (Thomas, 1928)   
 Echimys rhipidurus Thomas, 1928: 291 (original description).   
TYPE SPECIMEN AND TYPE LOCALITY: The holotype (by original designation, BMNH 28.7.21.89), an adult male skin and skull collected by R. W. Hendee on 25 January 1928 at “ Pebas. Up. Amazons, 300′,” Loreto, Peru.  
 DIAGNOSIS AND DESCRIPTION: Much smaller than Toromys grandis (tables 5, 6), dorsum finely grizzled yellow-brown agouti heavily lined with black, sides paler yellowish; rostrum in front of and below the eyes, inner rear of thighs, dorsal and ventral tail base, and sometimes a lateral line are dull rust red-orange or red tinged (figs. 13B, 14C, 16). Small, pale yellow postauricular patches are prominent in life, but not evident on most specimen skins (fig. 14C, 16). Aristiforms narrow, black or banded with ochraceous-buff subterminal bands, tipped dusky or ochraceous yellow (fig. 4E). Underparts pale gray-brown, sometimes with a white band between the elbows or white chest patches (fig. 16); gray color imparted by white-based and pale-tipped hairs with wide subterminal gray bands. Tail distal to the dorsal extension of body hair onto the base with long, monocolor black or dark rust-brown hairs above, which can nearly cover the scales proximally, but which shorten and thin distally to expose the scales at the tail tip, such that the tail appears conical; tail hairs paler laterally; self rusty at base below. Scales at dorsal tail base longer anterior-posteriorly than wide laterally, with strongly curved posterior edges (like fish scales, fig. 5C). Feet brown to grayish above; with sparse ungual tufts shorter than the strong claws. Plantar surfaces black pigmented, as for genus described above. Eyes mahogany brown, with pointed-ovoid, vertically slit pupils. Cranium robust, rostrum short and broad, and nasals slightly pinched in medially (fig. 9B). Jugal fossa deep and pointed anteriorly, with a strong ventral lip. Postglenoid fossa with or without a strong beaded lip of petrosal bone below. The space between the auditory meatus and ridge of squamosal above it as wide as or nearly the width of the meatus. Squamosal usually extends as a triangular tongue into the top of the mastoid process (fig. 7B). Medial parietal-interparietal suture between the temporal ridges generally strongly recurved anteriorly or with a medial notch (12/17), but can be straight (5/17, including the holotype). Upper molars with narrow lophs at right angles to the cranial axis, lophs notably parallel and of even width, and traversed by narrow parallel flexi in a distinctly laminar occlusal pattern (fig. 12D). First two lower molars with straight, angled posterolophids (fig. 12D). Incisor faces deep to medium orange; the upper incisor roots arise posterior to the anterior base of the maxillary zygoma.   
 NATURAL HISTORY. Little has been recorded of the habits of this species, other than that it is generally arboreal and can use tree hollows. A number of localities where specimens were collected are in white sand, “ varillal ” habitat (Río Nanay), a specialized ecosystem that harbors endemic plants and vertebrates (e.g., Alonso and Whitney, 2001).   
 SPECIMENS EXAMINED: PERU: Loreto, Pebas (BMNH 28.7.21.89 [holotype]); Río Napo, Lago Mirario (not located), (BMNH 32.8.4.21, 32.8.4.22); Boca Río Mazán, (BMNH 32.8.4.22a); Maynas, Puerto Indiana; (AMNH 73231, 73266–73277 *, 73791); Orosa, Amazon River, (AMNH 74084–74086 *); Genaro Herrera (= Jenaro Herrera), (AMNH 276710); Iquitos, Pampa Chica, (FMNH 87243, 87244 *, 87245–87248); Río Nanay, Santa Rita, (FMNH 87249); Río Manití, Santa Cecilia (FMNH 87249–87252); Maynas, Quistococha, (FMNH 122991, 122992); Nazareth, Río Yavary, (FMNH 19854).
description: Published as part of Emmons, Louise H. & Fabre, Pierre-henri, 2018, A Review of the Pattonomys / Toromys Clade (Rodentia: Echimyidae), with Descriptions of a New Toromys Species and a New Genus, pp. 1-52 in American Museum Novitates 2018 (3894) on pages 38-39, DOI: 10.1206/3894.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5369712