''Tanyuromys'' is a
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of
oryzomyine
Oryzomyini is a tribe (taxonomy), tribe of rodents in the subfamily Sigmodontinae of the family Cricetidae. It includes about 120 species in about thirty genera,Weksler et al., 2006, table 1 distributed from the eastern List of mammals of the Uni ...
rodent
Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are na ...
s distributed in mountainous areas from
Central America
Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...
to the western part of
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
. The species in this genus have historically been placed in ''
Sigmodontomys
''Sigmodontomys'' is a genus of rodent in the tribe Oryzomyini of family Cricetidae. It is related to ''Nectomys'' and ''Melanomys'' and used to be included in ''Nectomys''. It includes two species, ''Sigmodontomys alfari'' and the much rarer ''S ...
'', but according to
cladistic research, this genus is either
sister to the clade containing ''Sigmodontomys'' and ''
Melanomys
''Melanomys'' is a genus of rodent in the tribe Oryzomyini of family Cricetidae, which is distributed in northern South America and adjacent Central America. It contains three species, two of which—'' Melanomys robustulus'' and '' Melanomys ...
'' or sister to the extinct
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
giant rice rat ''
Megalomys''. Along with members of ''
Aegialomys
''Aegialomys'' is a genus of oryzomyini, oryzomyine rodents from the lowlands and mountains of western Peru and Ecuador, including the Galápagos Islands. The species in this genus have historically been placed in ''Oryzomys'', but according to c ...
'' and ''Melanomys'', it occurs at some of the highest elevations known for oryzomines.
Two species are known from the genus: ''
T. aphrastus'' (distributed from
Costa Rica
Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...
to
Ecuador
Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...
) and the recently described ''
T. thomasleei'' (
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to Ecuador).
References
Rodent genera
Taxa named by Marcelo Weksler
{{Sigmodontinae-stub