Giant tree-rat

The giant tree-rat (Toromys grandis) is a species in the family Echimyidae, the spiny rats. It is the only species in the monotypic genus Toromys. It is endemic to Brazil, where it occurs in the flooded forest along the banks of the Amazon River and its tributaries.^[1]

Giant tree-rat
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Superfamily:	Octodontoidea
Family:	Echimyidae
Subfamily:	Echimyinae
Tribe:	Echimyini
Genus:	Toromys Iack-Ximenes, De Vivo, & Percequillo, 2005
Species:	T. grandis
Binomial name
Toromys grandis (Wagner, 1845)
Synonyms
Loncheres grandis Wagner, 1845 Echimys grandis (Wagner, 1845) Makalata grandis (Wagner, 1845)

This species was formerly considered to be a member of the genera Loncheres and Makalata. In 2005 it was reclassified as the only member of the new genus Toromys.^[2]

The etymology of the genus name derives from the onomatopoeic Portuguese word toró, referring to the vocalizations of this rodent, and the ancient greek word μῦς (mûs), meaning "mouse, rat".^[3][4]

Phylogeny

Toromys is the sister genus to Pattonomys. These taxa are closely related to Echimys, Phyllomys, and Makalata, reflecting the fact that Toromys grandis and Pattonomys occasius have formerly been placed in Makalata by some authorities.^[5] In turn, these five genera share phylogenetic affinities with a clade containing the bamboo rats Dactylomys, Olallamys, Kannabateomys together with Diplomys and Santamartamys.^[6]

Genus-level cladogram of the Echimyini.

Echimyini              Isothrix   "Eumysopines"     Lonchothrix   (Tuft-tailed spiny tree-rat)   Mesomys                                           Pattonomys   Toromys   (Giant tree-rat)             Makalata   Echimys   Phyllomys   Diplomys   Santamartamys   (Red-crested tree-rat)   "Dactylomyines"     Kannabateomys   (Atlantic bamboo rat)             Dactylomys   Olallamys

The cladogram has been reconstructed from mitochondrial and nuclear DNA characters.[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][6]

References

1. Percequillo, A. & Patton, J. 2008. Toromys grandis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2008. Downloaded on 11 January 2016.
2. Iack-Ximenes, De Vivo & Percequillo 2005. A new genus for Loncheres grandis Wagner, 1845, with taxonomic comments on other arboreal echimyids (Rodentia, Echimyidae). Arquivos do Museu Nacional (Rio de Janeiro), 63(1), 89-112.
3. Bailly, Anatole (1981-01-01). Abrégé du dictionnaire grec français. Paris: Hachette. ISBN 978-2010035289. OCLC 461974285.
4. Bailly, Anatole. "Greek-french dictionary online". www.tabularium.be. Retrieved November 10, 2017.
5. Woods, C.A.; Kilpatrick, C.W. (2005). "Species Makalata grandis". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 1538–1600. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
6. Fabre, Pierre-Henri; Upham, Nathan S.; Emmons, Louise H.; Justy, Fabienne; Leite, Yuri L. R.; Loss, Ana Carolina; Orlando, Ludovic; Tilak, Marie-Ka; Patterson, Bruce D.; Douzery, Emmanuel J. P. (2017-03-01). "Mitogenomic Phylogeny, Diversification, and Biogeography of South American Spiny Rats". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 34 (3): 613–633. doi:10.1093/molbev/msw261. ISSN 0737-4038. PMID 28025278.
7. Lara, Márcia C.; Patton, James L.; da Silva, Maria Nazareth F. (1996). "The Simultaneous Diversification of South American Echimyid Rodents (Hystricognathi) Based on Complete Cytochrome b Sequences". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 5 (2): 403–413. Bibcode:1996MolPE...5..403L. doi:10.1006/mpev.1996.0035. PMID 8728398.
8. Leite, Yuri L. R.; Patton, James L. (2002). "Evolution of South American spiny rats (Rodentia, Echimyidae): the star-phylogeny hypothesis revisited". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 25 (3): 455–464. Bibcode:2002MolPE..25..455L. doi:10.1016/s1055-7903(02)00279-8. PMID 12450750.
9. Galewski, Thomas; Mauffrey, Jean-François; Leite, Yuri L. R.; Patton, James L.; Douzery, Emmanuel J. P. (2005). "Ecomorphological diversification among South American spiny rats (Rodentia; Echimyidae): a phylogenetic and chronological approach". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 34 (3): 601–615. Bibcode:2005MolPE..34..601G. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2004.11.015. PMID 15683932.
10. Upham, Nathan S.; Patterson, Bruce D. (2012). "Diversification and biogeography of the Neotropical caviomorph lineage Octodontoidea (Rodentia: Hystricognathi)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 63 (2): 417–429. Bibcode:2012MolPE..63..417U. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2012.01.020. PMID 22327013.
11. Fabre, Pierre-Henri; Galewski, Thomas; Tilak, Marie-ka; Douzery, Emmanuel J. P. (2013-03-01). "Diversification of South American spiny rats (Echimyidae): a multigene phylogenetic approach". Zoologica Scripta. 42 (2): 117–134. doi:10.1111/j.1463-6409.2012.00572.x. ISSN 1463-6409. S2CID 83639441.
12. Loss, Ana; Moura, Raquel T.; Leite, Yuri L. R. (2014). "Unexpected phylogenetic relationships of the painted tree rat Callistomys pictus (Rodentia: Echimyidae)" (PDF). Natureza on Line. 12: 132–136. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-06-23. Retrieved 2017-11-10.
13. Fabre, Pierre-Henri; Vilstrup, Julia T.; Raghavan, Maanasa; Der Sarkissian, Clio; Willerslev, Eske; Douzery, Emmanuel J. P.; Orlando, Ludovic (2014-07-01). "Rodents of the Caribbean: origin and diversification of hutias unravelled by next-generation museomics". Biology Letters. 10 (7): 20140266. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2014.0266. ISSN 1744-9561. PMC 4126619. PMID 25115033.
14. Upham, Nathan S.; Patterson, Bruce D. (2015). "Evolution of Caviomorph rodents: a complete phylogeny and timetree for living genera". In Vassallo, Aldo Ivan; Antenucci, Daniel (eds.). Biology of caviomorph rodents: diversity and evolution. Buenos Aires: SAREM Series A, Mammalogical Research — Sociedad Argentina para el Estudio de los Mamíferos. pp. 63–120.