Woolly Giant Rat
Mus tomentosus Lichtenstein, 1830:plate 33, figure 1, and unnumbered text page. Type locality “waldigen Gegenden am Uruguay entdeckt, ” country unknown; restricted to “ Rio Uruguay in southeastern Brazil ” by Hershkovitz (1966:120).
Mus principalis Lund, 1839:208. Nomen nudum.
Mus principalis Lund, 1840 (1841:276). Type locality “Rio das Velhas’s Floddal” (Lund 1841:292) but listed as “Lapa da Escrivania Nr. 5” (according to Winge 1887:42), a cave excavated by P. W. Lund near Lagoa Santa, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Fig. 1. —An adult Kunsia tomentosus (sex unknown) obtained in a mark-release study carried out about 6 km S Los Fierros, Parque
[Hesperomys (Scapteromys)] tomentosus: Peters, 1861:135. Nacional Noel Kempff Mercado, Santa Cruz Department, Bolivia. Used Name combination. with permission of the collector and photographer, Louise H. Emmons.
Habrothrix tomentosus: Fitzinger, 1867:80. Name combination.
Scapteromys principalis: Winge, 1887:42. Name combination.
Scapteromys tomentosus: Trouessart, 1897:534. Name Scapteromys principalis principalis: Massoia and Fornes, combination 1965:4. Name combination.
Scapteromys gnambiquarae Miranda Ribeiro, 1914:37. Type Scapteromys principalis gnambiquarae: Massoia and Fornes,
Kunsia tomentosus tomentosus: Hershkovitz, 1966:119. Name combination.
Scapteromys gnambiquarae: Hershkovitz, 1966:119. Correction of ligature.
Kunsia tomentosus principalis: Hershkovitz, 1966:121, plate 8. Name combination.
Scapteromys tomentosus principalis: Hershkovitz, 1966:122. Lapsus calami.
CONTEXT AND CONTENT. Order Rodentia, suborder Myomorpha, superfamily Muroidea, family Cricetidae, subfamily Sigmodontinae, tribe Akodontini. Two subspecies have been traditionally recognized (Hershkovitz 1966): Kunsia tomentosus tomentosus, occurs throughout most of the distribution of the species, and K. tomentosus principalis, restricted to Lagoa Santa, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. In a direct examination of the type materials and additional specimens, Pardiñas et al. (2009) suggested that this subspecific arrangement is weakly supported and differences between tomentosus and principalis could be individual or age variability. More work is needed on these taxa to solidify the taxonomy.
NOMENCLATURAL NOTES. Kunsia traditionally has included 2 species, K. fronto (Winge, 1887) and K. tomentosus (Musser and Carleton 2005); however, the genus was recently reviewed and fronto was assigned to a new genus, Gyldenstolpia Pardiñas, D’Elía, and Teta, 2009 (see Pardiñas et al. 2009; Pardiñas and Bezerra 2015). The genus Kunsia was previously placed in the tribe Scapteromyini, a group derived from the informal Scapteromyine of Hershkovitz (1966), together with the genera Bibimys and Scapteromys (Hershkovitz 1966; Reig 1972; Massoia 1979; Pardiñas 1996; D’Elía et al. 2005; Pardiñas et al. 2009; Bezerra 2015). Molecular phylogenetic analyses (Smith and Patton 1999; D’Elía 2003; D’Elía and Pardiñas 2015) support the placement of these 3 genera in the tribe Akodontini, the 2nd most speciose group of the sigmodontine radiation (Musser and Carleton 2005; Patton et al. 2015).
The genus name Kunsia is a tribute to Merle L. Kuns (1923– 2008), of the Middle American Research Unit, National Institutes of Health, who investigated hemorrhagic fever in Bolivia, studying rodent reservoirs of the disease. Kuns assembled a collection of mammals in that country, among them K. tomentosus (Hershkovitz 1966). The specific epithet, tomentosus, is a reference to its woolly fur (Lichtenstein 1830). The woolly giant rat is also known as woolly kunsia, rata gigante (Spanish), colori (Pareci Indian Language; recorded by Miranda Ribeiro 1914), and arantacú (Nhambiquara Indian Language; recorded by Miranda Ribeiro 1914).