Eastern puna mouse
{{Short description|Species of rodent}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Eastern puna mouse
| status = NT | status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = {{Cite journal | author = Patterson, B. & Zeballos, H. | name-list-style = amp | title = Punomys kofordi | journal = The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species | volume = 2020 | page = e.T136287A22335357 | publisher = IUCN | date = 2020 | url = https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/136287/22335357 | access-date = 17 December 2020}}
| genus = Punomys
| species = kofordi
| authority = Pacheco & Patton, 1995
| synonyms =
}}
The Eastern puna mouse (Punomys kofordi) is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae.{{MSW3 Muroidea | id = 13000870 | page = 1164}}
Taxonomy
Punomys kofordi was described in 1995 by V. Pacheco and J. L. Patton, based on specimens collected in 1951 and 1970 by Carl B. Koford, after whom the species is named. It is the second member of the previously monotypic genus Punomys.{{Cite journal |last1=Pacheco |first1=Víctor |last2=Patton |first2=J. L. |date=1995-01-01 |title=A new species of the Puna mouse, genus Punomys Osgood, 1943 (Muridae, Sigmodontinae) from the Southeastern Andes of Peru |url=https://museohn.unmsm.edu.pe/docs/pub_masto/Pacheco_Patton%201995_Punomys_southeastern_Andes_b.pdf |journal=International Journal of Mammalian Biology}}
Description
The Eastern puna mouse is a large, stout mouse with long dark-brown fur on the top of the body and gray fur on the bottom of the body.{{Cite journal |last1=Quiroga-Carmona |first1=Marcial |last2=Storz |first2=Jay F |last3=D'Elía |first3=Guillermo |date=2023-10-01 |title=Elevational range extension of the Puna Mouse, Punomys (Cricetidae), with the first record of the genus from Chile |journal=Journal of Mammalogy |volume=104 |issue=5 |pages=1144–1151 |doi=10.1093/jmammal/gyad064 |pmid=37800100 |issn=0022-2372|pmc=10550245 }} Adults are approximately {{Convert|203|mm|in}} long. It has a longer relative tail length and shorter hind limbs than its sister species P. lemminus, with a smaller skull. It is overall darker than P. lemminus. The two species may have separated due to expanding glacial coverage during the Pleistocene, which would have physically separated the populations.{{Cite book |last1=Patton |first1=James L. |url=http://www.bibliovault.org/BV.landing.epl?ISBN=9780226169576 |title=Mammals of South America, Volume 2: Rodents |last2=Pardiñas |first2=Ulyses F. J. |last3=D’Elía |first3=Guillermo |date=2015 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-16957-6 |language=en |doi=10.7208/chicago/9780226169606.001.0001}}
The Eastern puna mouse is endemic to southern Peru. One specimen, which may have been either Punomys kofordi, P. lemminus, or a new species was found in La Paz, Bolivia in 1987, and identified with the genus by Salazar-Bravo et al in 2011.{{Cite journal |last1=Salazar-Bravo |first1=Jorge |last2=Miralles-Salazar |first2=Jacqueline |last3=Rico-Cernohorska |first3=Adriana |last4=Vargas |first4=Julieta |date=2010-06-01 |title=First record of Punomys (Rodentia: Sigmodontinae) in Bolivia |url=https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/457/45719986014.pdf |journal=Mastozoologia Neotropical |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=143–147}} Aside from that, no specimens have been collected since 1970. Within Peru, it is found in moist areas within puna grassland at elevations of {{Convert|4500|m|ft}} to {{Convert|4800|m|ft}} in the Kallawaya mountain range, a section of the Cordillera Oriental. This is provisionally the third-highest known range of any species of mammal, after the Punta de Vacas leaf-eared mouse and P. lemminus. One specimen, found in 2023, extended the range of Punomys to {{Convert|5461|m|ft}}. It was provisionally assigned to P. lemminus, but the authors were not certain of its identification between that and P. kofordi; if it were re-identified as P. kofordi, then it would have the second-highest known range instead of P. lemminus.
The Eastern puna mouse's habitat is differentiated from P. lemminus by higher annual rainfall. They were often found near Senecio bushes. Several Eastern puna mice may share a burrow. While there is limited data, they likely breed during the summer wet season, with litters of two to three.
References
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