Akodon lutescens J. A. Allen 1901

569.

Altiplano Grass Mouse

Akodon lutescens

French: Akodon fauve / German: Altiplano-Graslandmaus / Spanish: Raton campestre de altiplano

Other common names: Altiplano Akodont

Taxonomy. Akodon lutesens [sic] J. A. Allen, 1901, “Tirapata [Puna], Peru (about 15,000 ft [= 4572 m]).”

Original spellings included [lutesens and lutescens, but the former was corrected on p. 422 of same journal volume. Argentine records belong to A. caenosus. Monotypic.

Distribution. E Andean slopes in SE Peru to CW Bolivia.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 80 mm, tail 59 mm, ear 12 mm, hindfoot 18-5 mm; weight 10-20 (mean 14 g). The Altiplano Grass Mouse is a small species of Akodon. Dorsum is pale grayish or olive brown, moderately to heavily lined with black; venter is grayer than dorsum, with few white hairs on chin; moderately conspicuous eye-ring is present; and tail is sharply bicolored, with narrow dark dorsal stripe. Chromosomal complementis 2n = 40, FN = 40.

Habitat. Puna grasslands almost always associated with Festuca (Poaceae) bunchgrass, Yungas cloud forest, and human-disturbed areas at elevations of 1130-4560 m.

Food and Feeding. No information.

Breeding. One female Altiplano Grass Mouse collected in March had four embryos.

Activity patterns. No information.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List.

Bibliography. Anderson (1997), Dunnum, Vargas, Bernal, Zeballos, Vivar, Patterson, Jayat & D’Elia (2016), Jayat et al. (2010), Myers & Patton (1989a), Myers et al. (1990), Pardinas, Teta, Alvarado-Serrano et al. (2015), Patton & Smith (1992b), Salazar-Bravo, Yensen etal. (2002), Tarifa et al. (2007).