Lundomys
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Lundomys molitor Temporal range: Late to Recent |
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| Lectotype partial cranium of Lundomys molitor. The illustrated mandible represents a different species. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Cricetidae |
| Subfamily: | Sigmodontinae |
| Tribe: | Oryzomyini |
| Genus: |
Lundomys Voss and Carleton, 1993 |
| Species: | L. molitor |
| Binomial name | |
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Lundomys molitor (Winge, 1887) |
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| Distribution of Lundomys molitor in South America. The current distribution is in red and fossil records outside the current range are in blue. | |
| Synonyms | |
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Lundomys molitor, also known as Lund's amphibious rat or the greater marsh rat, is a semiaquatic rat species from southeastern South America. Its distribution is now restricted to Uruguay and nearby Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, but it previously ranged northward into Minas Gerais, Brazil, and southward into eastern Argentina. The Argentine form may have been distinct from the living form from Brazil and Uruguay. L. molitor is a large rodent, with the head and body length averaging 193 mm (7.6 in), characterized by a long tail, large hindfeet, and long and dense fur. It builds nests above the water, supported by reeds, and it is not currently threatened.
Its external morphology is similar to that of Holochilus brasiliensis and over the course of its complex taxonomic history, it has been confused with that species, but other features support its placement in a distinct genus, Lundomys. Within the family Cricetidae and subfamily Sigmodontinae, it is a member of a group of specialized oryzomyine rodents that also includes Holochilus, Noronhomys, Carletonomys, and Pseudoryzomys.
Lundomys molitor was first described in 1887 by Danish zoologist Herluf Winge, who reviewed the materials Peter Wilhelm Lund had collected in the caves of Lagoa Santa, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Winge used four specimens for his description, including two skull fragments and an isolated maxilla (upper jaw) from the cave chamber Lapa da Escrivania Nr. 5 and a mandible (lower jaw) from Lapa da Serra das Abelhas, but the latter later turned out to be from a different species, probably Gyldenstolpia fronto. Lund named the animal Hesperomys molitor and placed it in the same genus (Hesperomys) as what is now Pseudoryzomys simplex and two species of Calomys. Subsequently, it was rarely mentioned in the literature on South American rodents; those authors who did mention it placed it in either Oryzomys or Calomys.
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