Oryzomys dimidiatus
| Oryzomys dimidiatus | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Cricetidae |
| Genus: | Oryzomys |
| Species: | O. dimidiatus |
| Binomial name | |
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Oryzomys dimidiatus (Thomas, 1905) |
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| Range of Oryzomys dimidiatus (yellow) and the related O. couesi (red and yellow) in Central America. | |
| Synonyms | |
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Oryzomys dimidiatus, also known as the Nicaraguan oryzomys,Thomas's rice rat, or Nicaraguan rice rat, is a rodent in the genus Oryzomys of the family Cricetidae. It is known from only three specimens, all collected in southeastern Nicaragua since 1904. Placed in Nectomys upon its discovery, it was later classified in its own subgenus of Oryzomys and finally recognized as closely related to other species now placed in Oryzomys, including the marsh rice rat and Oryzomys couesi, which occurs in the same region.
With a head and body length of 110 to 128 mm (4.3 to 5.0 in), Oryzomys dimidiatus is a medium-sized rice rat. The upperparts are gray-brown and the underparts are grayish, not as in O. couesi. The tail is only slightly darker above than below. All three specimens were caught near water and the species may be semiaquatic, spending some time in the water. Its conservation status is currently assessed as "Least Concern".
The first known specimen was obtained by W.G. Palmer in 1904 and the next year, Oldfield Thomas of the British Museum of Natural History described this animal as the holotype of a new species he named Nectomys dimidiatus. He placed it in the genus Nectomys, commenting that it was much smaller than but otherwise similar to previously known members of that genus. The species was listed as a Nectomys in taxonomic overviews in the next decades, including a 1944 review of the genus by Philip Hershkovitz.
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