''Euryoryzomys nitidus'', also known as the elegant oryzomys or elegant rice rat, is a

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and Mandible, lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal specie ...

species in the family

Cricetidae The Cricetidae are a family of rodents in the large and complex superfamily Muroidea. It includes true hamsters, voles, lemmings, muskrats, and New World rats and mice. At over 870 species, it is either the largest or second-largest family ...

. Previously it was known as ''Oryzomys nitidus'', but it is not closely related to ''

Oryzomys ''Oryzomys'' is a genus of semiaquatic rodents in the tribe Oryzomyini living in southern North America and far northern South America. It includes eight species, two of which—the marsh rice rat (''O. palustris'') of the United States and ...

'' as that genus is now constructed. Its range includes

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

to the east of the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

, in lowland

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are dense and warm rainforests with high rainfall typically found between 10° north and south of the Equator. They are a subset of the tropical forest biome that occurs roughly within the 28° latitudes (in the torrid zo ...

as well as forest in the eastern foothills of the mountains, at elevations from .

Description

''Euryoryzomys nitidus'' is a medium-sized rice rat with a head-and-body length of about and a similar length tail. The short dense fur on the head and back is tawny or tawny-brown, the sides of the head and flanks being tinged with ochre. The underparts are whitish-grey. The tail is a uniform colour apart from the underside near the tip which is mottled. The upper surfaces of both fore- and hind-feet are clad in white hair, and the nails are hidden by tufts of hair growing between them.

Distribution and habitat

The main population of ''E. nitidus'' is in the Andean foothills of Peru, Bolivia and western Brazil and adjoining lowlands. However outlying individuals have been identified at scattered locations in south-central Brazil, Paraguay and northeastern Argentina. In the upper Amazon basin, this species shares its range with the closely related '' Euryoryzomys macconnelli''.Musser, G.G., Carleton, M.D., Brothers, E.M. and Gardner, A.L. 1998.
Systematic studies of oryzomyine rodents (Muridae: Sigmodontinae): diagnoses and distributions of species formerly assigned to ''Oryzomys "capito"''
Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 236:1–376. Its altitudinal range is between about and its typical habitat is tropical and sub-tropical rainforest. It also occurs in secondary forest and seems able to tolerate a considerable amount of habitat degradation. Other places where it has been recovered include primary and secondary dry deciduous forests, riverine gallery forests, savannah with palm trees, swamp forests and the environs of villages, among cropland, pasture and sporting venues. It is also present in the foothills of an isolated massif in

Mato Grosso do Sul Mato Grosso do Sul ( ) is one of Federative units of Brazil, Brazil's 27 federal units, located in the southern part of the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West Region, bordering five Brazilian states: Mato Grosso (to the north), Goiás and ...

on the western border of the

Pantanal The Pantanal () is a natural region encompassing the world's largest tropical wetland area, and the world's largest Flooded grasslands and savannas, flooded grasslands. It is located mostly within the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, but i ...

. It is a terrestrial species.

Andes Hantavirus variant

A study of small rodents in Peru found that ''E. nitidus'' is the fourth most frequently caught species, with 35 individuals trapped out of a total of 362 rodents; six of this total harboured a

hantavirus ''Orthohantavirus'' is a genus of viruses that includes all hantaviruses (family ''Hantaviridae'') that cause disease in humans. Orthohantaviruses, hereafter referred to as hantaviruses, are naturally found primarily in rodents. In general, each ...

variant, IgG, including an adult male ''E. nitidus''. Hantaviruses can cause

hantavirus pulmonary syndrome Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), also called hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS), is a severe respiratory disease caused by hantaviruses. The main features of illness are microvascular leakage and acute respiratory distress syndrome. S ...

in the human population, and although the occurrence of this syndrome is currently low, when it occurs, this

zoonotic A zoonosis (; plural zoonoses) or zoonotic disease is an infectious disease of humans caused by a pathogen (an infectious agent, such as a virus, bacterium, parasite, fungi, or prion) that can jump from a non-human vertebrate to a human. When h ...

disease is often fatal.

Status

''E. nitidus'' is a common species with a wide distribution. It is present in a number of protected areas and no particular threats to the species have been identified. For these reasons, the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

has assessed its conservation status as being of "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

References

Literature cited

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1766518 Euryoryzomys Rodents of Brazil Mammals of Bolivia Mammals of Peru Mammals described in 1884 Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas