Ctenomys coyhaiquensis Kelt & Gallardo 1994
Creators: name: Don E. Wilson
name: Thomas E. Lacher, Jr
name: Russell A. Mittermeier
Publisher: name: Lynx Edicions
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Rodentia
Ctenomyidae
Ctenomys
Ctenomys coyhaiquensis

description: 39.
Coyhaique Tuco-tuco
Ctenomys coyhaiquensis
French: Tuco-tuco du Coyhaique / German: Coyhaique-Kammratte / Spanish: Tuco tuco de Coyhaique
Other common names: Coyahique Tuco-tuco
Taxonomy. Ctenomys coyhaiquensis Kelt & Gallardo, 1994,
“2 km S from Chile Chico and 1 km W Chile Chico aerédromo, Provincia General Carrera, XI Region de Aisen [= Aysén], Chile. 46°33’S, 71°46’W, 330 m.”
Ctenomys coyhaiquensis belongs to the Chilean group relative to its biogeography but to the magellanicusspecies group based on mtDNA. Chromosomal complement is 2n = 28 and FN = 44, and sperm form is asymmetric. Monotypic.
Distribution. S Chilean Patagonia (Aysén Region), where it is known only from the type locality and from 4-5 km south-east of Coyhaique; it may also occur in nearby Argentina.
Descriptive notes. Head-body 195-264 mm, tail 60-81 mm, hindfoot 28-34 mm; weight 72-182 g. The Coyhaique Tuco-tuco is small. Fur is tawny brown, washed with yellow and black. Dorsal fur has two types of hair: long and black, scattered throughout back or tricolored with dark gray base, buff medial band, and black tips. In central portion, color is cinnamon buff, and tips are black. Mid-dorsal region is darker, as in many species of tuco-tucos. Dorsal color fades toward ventral region where hairs are bicolored dark gray proximally and pale buff or ocherous buff distally. Tail is bicolored, with darker dorsal color extending ventrally toward end. Skull of the Coyhaique Tucotuco, as in most species of Ctenomys, has four kidney-shaped molariform teeth, large orange proodont incisors, and slightly resistant zygomatic arches, hearing capacity, and auditory canal extending laterally slightly beyond zygomatic arches. Mandible is characterized by heavy condyloid process, short coronoid process, but large and wideangle process extending laterally.
Habitat. Sandy or rocky soils with sparse shrub and herbaceous communities. At high elevations, the Coyhaique Tuco-tuco transitions into gravelly soils with bunchgrasses.
Food and Feeding. There is no information available for this species.
Breeding. There is no information available for this species.
Activity patterns. There is no information available for this species.
Movements, Home range and Social organization. There is no information available for this species.
Status and Conservation. Classified as Data Deficient on The IUCN Red List. The Coyhaique Tuco-tuco was first reported by M. H. Gallardo and colleagues in 1996 to be an example of loss of genetic variation after the eruption of Hudson Volcano in southern Chile in 1991. Mean heterozygosity pre-eruption was 7-2% and decreased after eruption to 1-:3%, as well as the polymorphism and the number ofalleles.
Bibliography. Bidau (2015), Contreras & Bidau (1999), Kelt & Gallardo (1994), Gallardo et al. (1996), Parada et al. (2011).
description: Published as part of Don E. Wilson, Thomas E. Lacher, Jr & Russell A. Mittermeier, 2016, Ctenomyidae, pp. 498-534 in Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 6 Lagomorphs and Rodents I, Barcelona :Lynx Edicions on page 525, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6588177