Glironia venusta Thomas 1912
Creators: name: Voss, Robert S.
name: Fleck, David W.
name: Jansa, Sharon A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Didelphimorphia
Didelphidae
Glironia
Glironia venusta

description: Glironia venusta Thomas, 1912   
VOUCHER MATERIAL (TOTAL = 1): Quebrada Vainilla (LSUMZ 28421).  
OTHER INTERFLUVIAL RECORDS: None.  TABLE 2  
 Measurements (mm) and Weights (g) of Caluromys lanatus from Paraguay and Western Amazonia   
 a The mean plus or minus one standard deviation, the observed range (in parentheses), and the sample size for measurements of the following series (asterisks identify Yavarí-Ucayali vouchers): AMNH 71983, 75911, 23001, 273038*, 273059*; MUSM 11024*; MVZ 140041, 157611, 157612, 190249; USNM 546177).   
 b The mean plus or minus one standard deviation, the observed range (in parentheses), and the sample size for measurements of the following series: AMNH 68282, 71979, 71984, 78951, 92760; MVZ 157608, 168852, 190247, 190250, 190251; USNM 364160.   
 IDENTIFICATION: As currently understood, Glironia venusta ranges across much of Amazonia but remains known from only a few specimens (Barkley, 2008; Ardente et al., 2013). Among the handful that we were able to examine for this report were the holotypes of two nominal species— aequatorialis Anthony, 1926, and criniger Anthony, 1926 —that have long been regarded as junior synonyms of venusta. Whereas the type localities of aequatorialis (Boca Río Lagartococha, on the Peruvian-Ecuadorian frontier) and criniger (Boca Río Curaray, in Loreto department) are both north of the Amazon, 3 the type locality of venusta (Pozuzo, in Pasco depart-   
 3 See Wiley (2010) for information about these historically important localities. ment) is south of the Amazon. In addition to these and our single specimen from Quebrada Vanilla, we examined a fourth specimen, from eastern Ecuador.   
Although Barkley (2008) said that LSUMZ 28421 was an adult, it is really a subadult with a still incompletely erupted P3 on each side. The immaturity of this specimen plausibly explains why it is smaller than the others we measured (table 3) in several cranial dimensions subject to postweaning growth (e.g., CBL, ZB, PB), but not in age-invariant molar dimensions (LM, M1–3, WM3). We did not note any conspicuous craniodental differences among these specimens, but the tip of the tail is abruptly white for about 2 cm in LSUMZ 28421, a marking that is also present  TABLE 3  
Measurements (mm) and Weights (g) of Glironia venusta  
 a From Quebrada Vainilla (in the Yavarí-Ucayali interfluve).   
 b Holotype of venusta; measured by Thomas (1912b). Measurements are in quotes because external dimensions were measured according to the British protocol (Lankester, 1904), and craniodental measurements may have been affected by preservational artifacts (Thomas, 1912b).   
 c Holotype of criniger.   
 d Holotype of aequatorialis.   
 e Estimated values.   
on BMNH 12.1.15.7 (Thomas, 1912b), but not in any of the specimens we examined from the left (“north”) bank of the Amazon, which all have grayish or brownish tail tips.  
 Preliminary genetic data suggest that distinct haplotypes of Glironia venusta occupy opposite banks of the Amazon. Patton et al. (1996) obtained 1140 bp of cytochrome b from a single specimen (INPA 2570) collected on the upper Rio Urucu, a right-bank tributary of the upper Amazon (Solimões) in western Brazil. This sequence differs by about 6% (uncorrected) from two large fragments (both>500 bp) that we obtained from the left-bank holotypes of criniger (AMNH 71394) and aequatorialis (AMNH 71395); by contrast, the latter two sequences differ from one another by just a single base-pair substitution (an uncorrected distance of just 0.2%). Although it might make some sense in the light of these results to recognize two subspecies, G. v. criniger (including aequatorialis) on the north bank and G. v. venusta on the south bank, we are reluctant to formalize any taxonomic conclusions on such an inadequate basis. Nevertheless, the trivial genetic distance between the two left-bank specimens does tend to support the conclusions of previous taxonomists that the allegedly diagnostic morphological differences between criniger and aequatorialis reported   
by Anthony (1926) are nothing more than intraspecific variation.  
ETHNOBIOLOGY: The Matses have no definite knowledge of this species, and therefore do not have a name for it or any particular beliefs about it.  
MATSES NATURAL HISTORY: The Matses have no knowledge of the appearance or behavior of this species.  
REMARKS: According to Barkley (2008), LSU 28421 was captured at night in a mist net set for bats in primary forest. Local habitats at the capture site, which is not subject to seasonal inundation, were described by Robbins et al. (1991).  
 OTHER SPECIMENS EXAMINED (TOTAL = 3): Ecuador — Pastaza, Montalvo (FMNH 41440). Peru — Loreto, Boca Río Curaray (AMNH 71394). Peru (Loreto) or Ecuador (Orellana)— Boca Río Lagartococha (AMNH 71395).
description: Published as part of Voss, Robert S., Fleck, David W. & Jansa, Sharon A., 2019, Mammalian Diversity And Matses Ethnomammalogy In Amazonian Peru Part 3: Marsupials (Didelphimorphia), pp. 1-89 in Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2019 (432) on pages 17-20, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0090.432.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5414884