Tympanoctomys barrerae

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	MAMMALIA	RODENTIA	OCTODONTIDAE

Scientific Name:	Tympanoctomys barrerae
Species Authority:	(Lawrence, 1941)
Common Name/s: English – Plains Viscacha Rat, Red Vizcacha Rat
Taxonomic Notes:	Generic synonym Octomys.

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:	Near Threatened     ver 3.1
Year Assessed:	2008
Assessor/s:	Lessa, E., Ojeda, R. & Bidau, C.
Reviewer/s:	Amori, G. (Small Nonvolant Mammal Red List Authority) & Schipper, J. (Global Mammal Assessment Team)
Justification: Listed as Near Threatened since although its extent of occurrence is less than 20,000 km² and its habitat might be declining, it naturally occurs in severely fragmented populations thus making the species close to qualifying for Vulnerable under criterion B1. It probably occurs in more than ten locations.
History:	1996 – Vulnerable 1994 – Vulnerable (Groombridge 1994) 1990 – Vulnerable (IUCN 1990)

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	This species is endemic to the arid plains of Mendoza Province, central-western Argentina (Woods and Kilpatrick 2005). It has a naturally fragmented distribution.
Countries:	Native: Argentina
Range Map:	Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population:	There is no information available on the population status of this species.
Population Trend:	Decreasing

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	This species inhabits the salt basins, sand dunes and open scrubland habitats of the Monte Chaco and Monte Patagonia biomes. It is nocturnal, solitary and lives in complex burrow systems. It feeds (specialized) on halophite plants (Diaz et al., 2000).
Systems:	Terrestrial

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):

The loss of habitat to the expanding oil and gas industry is a threat to this species. The population has a naturally fragmented and restricted geographical distribution. In addition it is a habitat specialist (dunes and slat flats) and low population densities (Diaz et al., 2000).

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:

It is found in the Biosphere Reserve of Nacunan, Mendoza Province.

Bibliography [top]

Diaz, G. B., Ojeda, R. A., Gallardo, M. H. and Giannoni, S. M. 2000. Tympanoctomys barrerae. Mammalian Species 646: 1-4. Woods, C. A. and Kilpatrick, C. W. 2005. Infraorder Hystricognathi. In: D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder (eds), Mammal Species of the World, pp. 1538-1599. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD, USA.