Euryoryzomys emmonsae
| Euryoryzomys emmonsae | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Cricetidae |
| Genus: | Euryoryzomys |
| Species: | E. emmonsae |
| Binomial name | |
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Euryoryzomys emmonsae (Musser, Carleton, Brothers, and Gardner, 1998) |
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| Distribution of Euryoryzomys emmonsae (in green). | |
| Synonyms | |
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Euryoryzomys emmonsae, also known as Emmons's Rice Rat or Emmons' Oryzomys, is a rodent from the Amazon rainforest of Brazil in the genus Euryoryzomys of the family Cricetidae. Initially misidentified as E. macconnelli or E. nitidus, it was formally described in 1998. A rainforest species, it may be scansorial, climbing but also spending time on the ground. It occurs only in a limited area south of the Amazon River in the state of Pará, a distribution that is apparently unique among the muroid rodents of the region.
Euryoryzomys emmonsae is a relatively large rice rat, weighing 46 to 78 g (1.6 to 2.8 oz), with a distinctly long tail and relatively long, tawny brown fur. The skull is slender and the incisive foramina (openings in the bone of the palate) are broad. The animal has 80 chromosomes and its karyotype is similar to that of other Euryoryzomys. Its conservation status is assessed as "Data Deficient", but deforestation may pose a threat to this species.
In 1998, Guy Musser, Michael Carleton, Eric Brothers, and Alfred Gardner reviewed the taxonomy of species previously lumped under "Oryzomys capito" (now classified in the genera Hylaeamys, Euryoryzomys, and Transandinomys). They described the new species Oryzomys emmonsae on the basis of 17 specimens from three locations in the state of Pará in northern Brazil; these animals had been previously identified as Oryzomys macconnelli (now Euryoryzomys macconnelli) and then as Oryzomys nitidus (now Euryoryzomys nitidus). The specific name honors Louise H. Emmons, who, among other contributions to Neotropical mammalogy, collected three of the known examples of the species in 1986, including the holotype. The new species was placed in what they termed the "Oryzomys nitidus group", which also included O. macconelli, O. nitidus, and O. russatus.
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