| Oryzomys
curasoae
|
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| |
| Kingdom |
Animalia |
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|
| Phylum |
Chordata |
| Class |
Mammalia |
| Order |
Rodentia
|
| Family |
Cricetidae
|
| Genus |
Oryzomys |
| |
| Non-recognised
Species |
Oryzomys
curasoae |
| Authority |
McFarlane
& Debrot, 2001 |
| |
| Recognised
Species |
Oryzomys
gorgasi |
| Authority |
Hershkovitz,
1971 |
| |
| TEW
Status |
Not
Recognised (NR), Year assessed: 2010 |
| IUCN
Status |
Data
Deficient (DD), Year assessed: 2008 |
| |
| English
Name |
Curaçao
Rice Rat |
| Dutch
Name |
Curaçao
Rijstrat |
| German
Name |
Curacao-Reisratte |
| |
| Comments |
The
Curaçao Rice Rat is no longer recognised as a distinct species by The
Extinction Website. Until 2010 it was listed as extinct. This page is
about the non-recognised species Oryzomys
curasoae, which is now seen as an extinct insular population of the
Gorgas's Rice Rat (Oryzomys gorgasi). |
| |
| Taxonomy |
The
species was originally described, in 2001, as a member of
"subgenus" Oecomys, but it has been retained in the genus
Oryzomys in recent studies. There was uncertainty
about the taxonomy of this species. It was thought it could be conspecific with the extant Oryzomys
gorgasi (Gorgas's Rice Rat) from mainland Colombia and
Venezuela. (Weksler,
Percequillo & Voss, 2006; Lamoreux, 2008)
In 2009, it was confirmed that Oryzomys
curasoae is conspecific with Oryzomys
gorgasi (Voss & Weksler, 2009). The
type material of Oryzomys curasoae (McFarlane & Debrot, 2001)
is morphologically indistinguishable from Oryzomys
gorgasi (Voss & Weksler, 2009). |
| |
| Characteristics |
According
to Dr. Donald A. McFarlane and Dr. Adolphe O. Debrot, the
Curaçao Rice Rat has a broad skull with a distinctly more robust rostrum
and lacking tapered the Oryzomys-profile (McFarlane
& Debrot 2001). However,
Dr. Robert S. Voss and Dr. Marcelo Weksler, from the Department of
Mammalogy at the American Museum of Natural History, conclude that "all
of the craniodental traits and measurements of the holotype of Oryzomys
curasoae are either within the range of variation seen in the El
Caimito series of Oryzomys gorgasi or fall outside that
range by no more than 0.1 mm" (Voss & Weksler, 2009). |
| |
| Range
& Habitat |
 This
species (when considered distinct) is endemic to the island of Curaçao (Netherlands Antilles, Kingdom
of the Netherlands), in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan
coast. (McFarlane & Debrot 2001; Lamoreux, 2008).
Image: map showing the location of the
island of Curaçao. Created
by Peter Maas for The Extinction Website. This image is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution
ShareAlike 3.0 License.
This applies worldwide.
|
| |
| History
& Population |
The
Curaçao Rice Rat is only known from subfossil remains. It was found with
the Black Rat (Rattus rattus), which implies that it became extinct
after the first European contact with Curaçao in 1499. (McFarlane
& Debrot 2001; Lamoreux,
2008; Wikipedia contributors, 2009) |
| |
| Extinction
Causes |
Black
Rat (Rattus rattus) remains were found together with those of the
Curaçao Rice Rat suggesting that the introduced Black Rat may have played
a role in its demise. (Lamoreux,
2008)
|
| |
| Museum
Specimens |
Subfossil
remains the Curaçao Rice Rat are kept in de collections of Natural
History Museum of Los Angeles County (LACM) in California (USA) and the
Zoological Museum of Amsterdam (ZMA) in the Netherlands. (McFarlane &
Debrot 2001) |
| |
| Relatives |
This
species is conspecific with Gorgas's Rice Rat (Oryzomys gorgasi)
(Voss
& Weksler, 2009).
If this this mainland species from Colombia and Venezuela is considered distinct from
the insular Curaçao Rice Rat,
than the Gorgas's Rice Rat can
be seen as its closest living relative
(Weksler,
Percequillo & Voss, 2006). |
| |
| Links |
Oryzomys
gorgasi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
|
| |
|
References
(Complete
website)
|
Lamoreux,
J. (2008). Oryzomys curasoae. In: IUCN 2010. IUCN Red List of
Threatened Species. Version 2010.1. <www.iucnredlist.org>.
Downloaded on 11 April 2010.
McFarlane, D.A. & Debrot, A.O.
(2001). A new species of extinct oryzomyine rodent from the Quaternary of
Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles. Caribbean Journal of Science
37(3-4):182-184. (Online
pdf)
Voss, R.S., Weksler,
M. (2009). On the Taxonomic Status of Oryzomys curasoae McFarlane
and Debrot, 2001, (Rodentia: Cricetidae: Sigmodontinae) with Remarks
on the Phylogenetic Relationships of O. gorgasi Hershkovitz, 1971.
Caribbean Journal of Science, Vol. 45, No. 1, 73-79. (Online
pdf)
Weksler, M., Percequillo, A.R.
& Voss, R.S. (2006). Ten new genera of oryzomyine rodents (Cricetidae:
Sigmodontinae). American Museum Novitates 3537:1-29.
Wikipedia contributors (2009),
"Curaçao Rice Rat," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cura%C3%A7ao_Rice_Rat&oldid=292092937
(accessed 29 August 2009).
|
|
Last
updated: 11th April 2010.
This
page is a part of The
Extinction Website.
© 2000-2010. |