The hairy-tailed bolo mouse or hairy-tailed akodont (''Necromys lasiurus'') is a

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

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 A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of 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 ...

. It is found in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

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

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

Description

The hairy-tailed bolo mouse grows to a head-and-body length between , with a tail length of . The ears are small and rounded, and have a sparse covering of hair. The body fur is variable in colour, but usually the back is olive grey to dark brown, the flanks are paler and washed with ochre, and the underparts are white or pale grey. The demarcation line between upper parts and underparts is ill-defined. The tail is bicolor, dark above and pale below, and clad in short, fairly dense fur, and the feet are brown on top with tufts of white hair between the digits, which have strong nails.

Distribution and habitat

The hairy-tailed bolo mouse is native to southern South America. Its range extends from eastern and central Brazil as far west as

Rondônia Rondônia () is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northern subdivision of the country (central-western part). It is bordered by Acre (state), Acre in the west, Amazonas, Brazil, Amazonas in the north, Mato Grosso in the east, and Bo ...

, through eastern Paraguay to northeastern Argentina. The exact boundaries are not well known, with various isolated outlying areas and with populations west of the

Paraguay River The Paraguay River (''Ysyry Paraguái'' in Guarani language, Guarani, ''Rio Paraguai'' in Portuguese language, Portuguese, ''Río Paraguay'' in Spanish language, Spanish) is a major river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Bol ...

overlapping the range of the Paraguayan bolo mouse (''N. lenguarum''). Its typical habitat is grassland, the verges of cultivated fields and areas of secondary woodland.

Ecology

The hairy-tailed bolo mouse is mainly diurnal, with some activity at dusk and at night, particularly in the dry season. Its diet varies with the time of year, but mainly consists of seeds and green plant material, and sometimes includes small

invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...

s. The breeding season is mostly in the spring and summer, and litter sizes average about five young. This mouse is a reservoir for certain

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 ...

es, including the Araraquara strain from Brazil, which can cause disease in humans. It is a host of the Acanthocephalan intestinal parasite '' Moniliformis necromysi''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q308452 Necromys Mammals of Argentina Mammals of Bolivia Rodents of Brazil Mammals of Paraguay Mammals described in 1841