Vesper mouse

{{Short description|Genus of rodents}} {{automatic taxobox | name = Vesper mouse | image = Calomys laucha small vesper mouse.jpg | image_caption = Small vesper mouse (''Calomys laucha'') | fossil_range = Pleistocene to Recent | taxon = Calomys | authority = Waterhouse, 1837 | type_species = ''Mus bimaculatus''<ref>{{MSW3|id=13000613}}</ref> | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = ''Calomys boliviae'' ''Calomys callidus'' ''Calomys callosus'' ''Calomys cerqueirai'' ''Calomys expulsus'' ''Calomys fecundus'' ''Calomys hummelincki'' ''Calomys laucha'' ''Calomys lepidus'' ''Calomys musculinus'' ''Calomys sorellus'' ''Calomys tener'' ''Calomys tocantinsi'' ''Calomys venustus'' | synonyms = ''Hesperomys'' Waterhouse, 1839 }}

'''Vesper mice''' are rodents belonging to the genus ''Calomys''. They are widely distributed in South America. Some species are notable as the vectors of Argentinian hemorrhagic fever and Bolivian hemorrhagic fever.

The genus was originally named ''Hesperomys'', but was changed to ''Calomys'' in 1962.

==History== ''Hesperomys'' was introduced by George Robert Waterhouse in 1839 for the American rodents with cusps arranged in two series. The name combines the Greek ἑσπερος "west" and μυς "mouse". He considered it possible that species of ''Hesperomys'' would be found in the Old World, but did not doubt that the Americas were their chief abode.<ref>{{harvnb|Hershkovitz|1962|p=129}}; {{harvnb|Waterhouse|1839|p=75}}</ref> He included as species ''Mus bimaculatus'' (=''Calomys laucha''), ''Mus griseo-flavus'' (=''Graomys griseoflavus''), ''Mus Darwinii'' (=''Phyllotis darwini''), ''Mus zanthopygus'' (=''Phyllotis xanthopygus''), ''Mus galapagoensis'' (=''Aegialomys galapagoensis''), ''Symidon hispidum'' (=''Sigmodon hispidus''), ''Mus leucopus'' (=''Peromyscus leucopus''), and the woodrats (''Neotoma'').<ref>{{harvnb|Waterhouse|1839|pp=75–76}}; current nomenclature: {{harvnb|Musser|Carleton|2005}}; {{harvnb|Weksler|Percequillo|Voss|2006}}</ref>

In following years, authors like Johann Andreas Wagner and Spencer Fullerton Baird expanded the genus to include additional American species, such as those placed now in ''Scapteromys'', ''Oxymycterus'', ''Abrothrix'', and ''Peromyscus''. In 1874, Elliott Coues designated ''Mus bimaculatus'' Waterhouse as the type species of ''Hesperomys''.<ref name=H129>{{harvnb|Hershkovitz|1962|p=129}}</ref> In 1888, Herluf Winge used ''Hesperomys'' in a sense similar to modern ''Calomys'' (but confusingly placed species related to what is now known as ''Oryzomys'' in ''Calomys''), but in the same year Oldfield Thomas argued that ''Hesperomys'' could not be separated from the hamsters (''Cricetus''). In 1896, however, he united it with ''Eligmodontia'' instead, where it remained until he reinstated it for modern ''Calomys'' in 1916. He did not use ''Calomys'' (introduced by Waterhouse in 1837 for ''Mus bimaculatus''), because he thought it to be preoccupied by an earlier name ''Callomys'' d'Orbigny and Geoffroy, 1830.<ref name=H130>{{harvnb|Hershkovitz|1962|p=130}}</ref> In 1962, Philip Hershkovitz noted that the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature mandates that a name cannot be considered preoccupied even when it differs by only one letter from another, so ''Callomys'' cannot invalidate ''Calomys''. As ''Calomys'' Waterhouse, 1837, and ''Hesperomys'' Waterhouse, 1839, both had ''Mus bimaculatus'' as their type species, the two are objective synonyms and the older name, ''Calomys'', prevails; since then, ''Hesperomys'' has no longer been in use as a valid name.<ref name=H129/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== * {{cite journal |last=Hershkovitz |first=P. |year=1962 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/2781 |title=Evolution of Neotropical cricetine rodents (Muridae) with special reference to the phyllotine group |journal=Fieldiana Zoology |volume=46 |pages=1–524}} * {{cite book |last1=Musser |first1=G. G. |last2=Carleton |first2=M. D. |year=2005 |chapter=Superfamily Muroidea |pages=894–1531 |editor1-last=Wilson |editor1-first=D.E. |editor2-first=Reeder |editor2-last=D. M. |url=http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3 |title=Mammal Species of the World: a taxonomic and geographic reference |edition=3rd |location=Baltimore |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=978-0-8018-8221-0}} * {{cite journal |last=Tate |first=G.H.H. |year=1932 |url=http://hdl.handle.net/2246/4146 |title=The taxonomic history of the South and Central American cricetid rodents of the genus ''Oryzomys''. Part 1, Subgenus ''Oryzomys'' |journal=American Museum Novitates |issue=579 |pages=1–18 |hdl=2246/4146}} * {{cite journal |last=Waterhouse |first=G. R. |year=1839 |url=http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=image&itemID=F9.2&pageseq=1 |title=The Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, under the command of Captain Fitzroy, R.N., during the years 1832 to 1836. Part II: Mammalia |location=London |publisher=Smith, Elder & Co.}} *{{cite journal | last1 = Weksler | first1 = M. | last2 = Percequillo | first2 = A. R. | last3 = Voss | first3 = R. S. | title = Ten new genera of oryzomyine rodents (Cricetidae: Sigmodontinae)| journal = American Museum Novitates | issue = 3537 | pages = 1–29| publisher = American Museum of Natural History | date = 2006-10-19 | hdl = 2246/5815 | doi= 10.1206/0003-0082(2006)3537[1:TNGOOR]2.0.CO;2| s2cid = 84088556 | url = https://zenodo.org/record/5385275 | hdl-access = free }} * {{cite journal |url=http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2010/f/zt02336p035.pdf |doi=10.11646/zootaxa.2336.1.2 |title=A new species of Calomys (Rodentia: Sigmodontinae) from Eastern Brazil |year=2010 |last1=Bonvicino |first1=Cibele R. |last2=De Oliveira |first2=João A. |last3=Gentile |first3=Rosana |journal=Zootaxa |volume=2336 |page=19 |s2cid=14564066 }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vesper Mouse}} Category:Calomys Category:Stored-product pests Category:Rodent genera Category:Taxa named by George Robert Waterhouse