Phyllotis
Phyllotis darwini
The leaf ear mice ( Phyllotis ) are a living in South America rodent genus of the group of the New world. They comprise 13 species.
Leaf ear mice reach a body length 7-15 cm, the tail is 5-17 inches long and the weight is 20 to 100 grams. Named giving features are large, 2-3 inches long ears. Their fur is gray -brown, yellow-brown or reddish at the top, the underside is white or light gray.
The distribution of these animals ranges from Ecuador Peru and Bolivia to Chile and Argentina. They inhabit savannahs, bush country, deserts and mountainous regions and occur in up to 5000 meters above sea level.
Their way of life is similar to the North and Central American Weißfußmäuse and they have occupied similar ecological niches. As shelters serve them rock crevices, caves or abandoned burrows of other animals. Depending on the type, they may be night, crepuscular or diurnal. My diet consists of seeds, green parts of plants and lichens.
We distinguish 13 species:
- Phyllotis amicus is confined to Western Peru.
- Phyllotis Andium is found in Ecuador and Peru.
- Phyllotis bonariensis lives in eastern Argentina. Because their habitat is used intensively for agriculture, the species is potentially threatened.
- Phyllotis Caprinus inhabited southern Bolivia and northern Argentina.
- Phyllotis darwini lives on the mid Chilean coast.
- Phyllotis definitus is found only in Peru.
- Phyllotis haggardi inhabited the Andean regions of Ecuador.
- Phyllotis limatus is distributed from western Peru to northern Chile.
- Phyllotis magister lives in Peru and northern Chile.
- Phyllotis osgoodi inhabited northern Chile.
- Phyllotis osilae is distributed from southern Peru to northern Argentina.
- Phyllotis wolffsohni occurs in western Bolivia.
- Phyllotis xanthopygus is distributed from Peru to southern Chile.
The genera Auliscomys, Graomys, Loxodontomys and Paralomys were also formerly incorporated in this genus. Today they form together with some other Phyllotini the tribes within the Sigmodontinae.