Part 19

Range.--Known only from the type locality.

Diagnosis.--Aristiforms wide and stiff; tail 96 per cent of head and body; color on setiform Cinnamon-Buff; incisive foramen short and moderately wide; vomerine sheath complete; all molariform teeth with two counterfolds.

Pelage.--Aristiforms on middorsal region: Gray basally, gradually blackening toward tip; total length, 24 to 26 mm; maximum width, 1.3 mm. Aristiforms on outer thighs: Gray basally, gradually blackening toward middle, and distal parts near (15''c) Pinkish Cinnamon; total length, 18 to 20 mm; maximum width 0.8 mm. Setiforms on middorsal region: Gray basally, gradually blackening toward tip but interrupted by Cinnamon-Buff, subapical zone; total length 14 to 16 mm; maximum width, 0.06 mm.

Skull.--Slender; bullae large and well-inflated; jugals with conspicuous, transverse ridge; postorbital process of zygoma moderately developed and involving only squamosal; incisive foramen short and narrow (4.1 × 2.1 mm); vomerine sheath complete, with maxillary part short and thick; mesopterygoid fossa extending forward as far as posterior parts of second molars; posterior palatine foramina at plane of premolars.

Teeth.--Upper and lower molariform teeth with two counterfolds. Counterfolds coalesced in P4 and M1 of one specimen.

Comparisons.--From P. i. gratiosus and P. i. panema, paratus differs in: all molariform teeth with two, instead of some with fewer, counterfolds; vomerine sheath complete and thick instead of usually incomplete; incisive foramen shorter and narrower; aristiforms conspicuously wider; setiforms Cinnamon-Buff instead of Ochraceous-Buff and Cinnamon, respectively. Tail 96 per cent of head and body in paratus instead of 100 per cent as in panema.

Remarks.--The animals were captured in climax forest.

Specimens examined.--Total number, 3 (MN), from Brazil, Espirito Santo, Santa Teresa, Floresta da Capela de São Braz; altitude 630 meters.

Proechimys setosus (Desmarest)

General characters.--Size medium; tail approximately same length as head and body; aristiforms moderately wide; feet rather large; ears of medium size; color on upper parts and sides sepia gradually changing to Ochraceous-Tawny; few differentiated, light-colored aristiforms present on outer thighs and rump; under surface of body and inner sides of legs white; tail with white tip and conspicuous, white pencil; feet white dorsally; skull short and smooth, somewhat flattened in interorbital region; jugals narrow dorso-ventrally; incisive foramen moderately long and notably narrow; vomerine sheath complete and slender; postorbital process of zygoma spinelike and involving mostly jugal; premolars usually with two counterfolds; molars with only one counterfold, rarely two in M1 or in M3.

Remarks.--The specimens available are undoubtedly faded and, therefore, the colors mentioned above for the upper parts and sides may not correspond to the colors of unfaded pelages. Desmarest (1817:59) describes the color of setosus as similar to that of the "Echimys de Cayenne" (Proechimys guyannensis) but being more "rousse." Is. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (1840:52) describes the same animal as being "d'un brun roussâtre" on the upper parts.

The Proechimys from Lagoa Santa, Minas Gerais, "Echimys" elegans Lund, is certainly related to P. iheringi as well as to P. albispinus. From P. iheringi, elegans differs in having a smaller skull with shorter rostrum, narrower incisive foramen, and orthodont incisors. On the other hand the restricted distribution of the aristiforms in the pelage and the white, penicillate tail are points of resemblance to iheringi. From P. albispinus, elegans differs in having a less spinous pelage and longer tail with white pencil instead of a brown pencil. The skulls, however, are similar, except for the fact that elegans does not have proodont incisors as albispinus sometimes does. Thomas (1921:141) states, after describing the skull of the type of setosus, that "Specimens corresponding to this animal have been obtained at Lagoa Santa, Minas, by Lund and others, and at Bahia." Thomas, however, would not have referred to specimens from "Bahia" as being comparable to elegans had they not been different from albispinus which he discussed in the same paper. Also, he would not have confused "specimens comparable to elegans" with a subspecies of P. iheringi (P. i. denigratus, from southern Bahia) which has opisthodont instead of orthodont incisors. Since French collectors sent material to Europe at the beginning of the 19th century from (southern?) Bahia, possibly setosus came from there.

In the collection of the American Museum of Natural History there is one specimen (AMNH no. 16140) of Proechimys, included in the so-called Maximilian Collection. The characters of this specimen agree closely with those of the specimens from Lagoa Santa. The locality of capture of specimen no. 16140 is unknown, but it is reasonable to assume that Prince Maximilian zu Wied obtained it somewhere along his route of travel through southeastern Bahia. Wied (1826:445) mentions "L[oncheres]. myosuros Licht." as "am Parahyba, am Peruhype und Belmonte," which greatly increases the possibility of its having come from southern Bahia. The close similarity to elegans of Wied's specimen indicates that the locality of capture possibly was in the region of the less humid, low escarpments of southern Bahia.

My conclusion is that Wied's specimen corresponds closely to setosus and, tentatively, I identify it as such. "Echimys elegans," due to the relationships mentioned above is here considered to be a subspecies of setosus.

Among the species described in earlier times, and whose identity was never ascertained, "Echinomys" fuliginosus Wagner seems to be synonymous with setosus. Wagner describes the animal as having a tail "apicis versus pilis albidis vestita" and the figure of the cheekteeth (1844, pl. 239 D) shows a typical trilaminate condition which occurs commonly in elegans. Moreover, the tail of fuliginosus is only 9 per cent shorter than the head and body and the aristiforms of this subspecies are moderately wide.

=Proechimys setosus setosus= (Desmarest)

Echimys setosus Desmarest (Geoffroy's MS), 1817, Nouv. Dict. Hist. Nat. nouv. ed., 10:59 (orig. descr.); Is. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1838, Comptes Rendus Acad. Sci., Paris, 6(26):886; Is. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1840, Mag. Zool., Paris, (ser. 2, année 2):12, 33, 52; Allen, 1899, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 12(20):257, 261.

Echimys cayennensis Pictet, 1841, Mém. Soc. phys. Hist. Nat., Genève, 9:145; Waterhouse, 1848, Nat. Hist. Mammalia, 2:334.

Echinomys fuliginosus Wagner, 1843, Schreber's Säugethiere, suppl. 3:343; Wagner, 1844, Schreber's Säugethiere, suppl. 4, pl. 39 D.

Proechimys setosus Allen, 1899, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 12(20):264; Thomas, 1921, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 8 (ser. 9):141; Tate, 1935, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 68(5):401; Ellerman, 1940, The families and genera of living rodents, Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.), 1:122.

Proechimys fuliginosus Tate, 1935, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 68(5): 400; Ellerman, 1940, The families and genera of living rodents, Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.), 1:119.

Type locality.--Unknown; see remarks under P. setosus. Type: Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, no. A. 7787 (Thomas, 1921:141), "very imperfect."

Diagnosis.--Aristiforms wide; P4 and M1 with two counterfolds; p4 with two counterfolds, one anterior to main fold.

Pelage.--Aristiforms on middorsal region: Gray basally, gradually blackening toward tip; total length, 18 to 20 mm; maximum width, 0.8 mm. Aristiforms on outer thighs: Color much faded; total length, 15 to 17 mm; maximum width, 0.3 mm. Setiforms on middorsal region: Color faded; total length, 16 to 18 mm; maximum width, 0.04 mm. Setiforms on outer thighs: Color faded; total length, 10 to 13 mm; maximum width, 0.03 mm.

Skull.--Short; rostrum short and stout; length of nasals approximately 15 mm (broken); bullae roundish, smooth and well-inflated; jugals dorso-ventrally narrow (3.1 mm) with strong transverse ridge; postorbital process of zygoma spiniform, slender and involving mostly jugal; incisive foramen narrow (3.8 x 1.7 mm) and narrowest in posterior part; vomerine sheath complete; posterior palatine foramina obsolete; mesopterygoid fossa extending forward as far as middle of second molars.

Teeth.--Incisors orthodont. P4 with two counterfolds; M1 with two counterfolds but anterior one notably small; M2 and M3 with only one counterfold each. In lower jaw: p4 with two counterfolds, one anterior to main fold; molars with only one counterfold.

Comparisons.--From P. s. elegans, setosus differs in: M1 with two counterfolds as opposed to only one; M3 with one counterfold instead of sometimes with two counterfolds; p4 with one counterfold anterior to main fold and another posterior, instead of both counterfolds posterior.

Remarks.--The measurements above were taken from the Maximilian specimen mentioned above. Measurements of the type were given by Desmarest as: head and body, 5-1/2 inches, tail about 6-1/2 inches. Is. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (1838:886) corrects these measurements to: head and body 195 mm; tail (part missing), 170 mm.