Gracile Atlantic spiny rat

Trinomys gratiosus is a species in the mainly South American family Echimyidae, the spiny rats; it occurs in southeast Brazil from the south bank of the River Doce, Espirito Sante, southward to Teresopolis, Rio de Janeiro.^[2]

Gracile Atlantic spiny rat
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Echimyidae
Subfamily:	Euryzygomatomyinae
Genus:	Trinomys
Species:	T. gratiosus
Binomial name
Trinomys gratiosus (Moojen, 1948)
Subspecies
T. g. bonafidei (Moojen, 1948) T. g. gratiosus (Moojen, 1948)

Taxonomy

Recently published studies suggest that the taxonomy of the genus Trinomys as currently described is not yet stable and that the genus might well be split. Some evidence suggests that the lineage of the South American spiny rats is older than might have been expected and in spite of morphological resemblance, the populations have diverged widely.^[3]

Status

In 2008 the IUCN Red List rated Trinomys gratiosus as Least Concern (LC); its population is apparently large, it does not seem to be declining fast enough for listing in a threatened category, and the habitat is not under obvious threat.^[1]

Common name

The species does not occur and is not widely known in Anglophone regions, so the idea of popular English names raises problems. For example, at least two coined "common names" have been published recently without special authority. Neither is in use in the local vernacular where the species is endemic, and neither is a valid derivation of the species name. "Gracile Atlantic spiny-rat"^[2] is inappropriate because the word gracile has nothing to do with the meaning or etymology of the Latin "gratiosus". A rival name, "graceful spiny-rat", is no better justified; "gratiosus" specifically means either "enjoying favour, favoured, beloved", or "showing favour, complaisant"^[4] "a favourite", or at best "gracious", not "graceful".^[5] No authority to date has proposed a better option than using the species name, Trinomys gratiosus in English.

References

1. Patterson, B. (2016). "Trinomys gratiosus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T136221A22212027. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-2.RLTS.T136221A22212027.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
2. Deeann Reeder; Wilson, Don W. (2005). Mammal species of the world: a taxonomic and geographic reference. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-8221-4.
3. Lara, M.C., Patton, J.L., 2000. Evolutionary diversification of spiny rats (genus Trinomys, Rodentia: Echimyidae) in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 130, 661–686.
4. Simpson, D. G. (1977). Cassell's Latin dictionary: Latin-English, English-Latin. London: Cassell. ISBN 0-02-522580-4.
5. Morell, Thomas; "An Abridgement of Ainsworth's Latin Dictionary" 13th ed, John Carey; Pub Longman, London, 1834.

• Woods, C.A.; Kilpatrick, C.W. (2005). "Infraorder Hystricognathi". 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.