Thomasomys baeops (Thomas)

Figures 11–13

SPECIMENS COLLECTED: 6.2 km (by road) W Papallacta, 11,700 ft (AMNH 248499; UMMZ 127117, 155630–155632, 155708, 155739); Río Papallacta valley (3–5 km by trail NNW Papallacta), 11,100 ft (UMMZ 155629); 1.4 km (by road) E Papallacta, 9,980 ft (UMMZ 127118, 155627, 155628, 155767).

OTHER MATERIAL: Another specimen (KU 109495) was collected by W.E. Duellman in 1967 near Laguna Papallacta at 3350 m elevation.

TAXONOMY: The type material of Thomasomys baeops consists of a single specimen (BMNH 98.8.1.7) collected near the Río Pita in the Ecuadorean province of Pichincha, from which a small series of topotypes is also available for comparisons. The Papallacta series is essentially indistinguishable from this material in qualitative characters of the skin and skull, as well as in measurements (table 4). No synonyms of T. baeops are currently recognized.

FIELD OBSERVATIONS: The 12 specimens of Thomasomys baeops that I collected near Papallacta in 1978 and 1980 were trapped at elevations ranging from 3040 to 3565 m. Of these, one was taken in the shrubby páramo/ forest ecotone, seven were in Subalpine Rain Forest, and four were in dense thickets of secondary growth at the bottom of a narrow ravine surrounded by pastures. Eight specimens were trapped on the ground: three along the wet margins of small streams, three in narrow trails through mossy debris and damp leaf litter, one under a mossy log, and one in a hole in a bank under the roots of a tree. Four specimens were trapped on the mossy branches of small trees.