13 October 2015

Some peruvian ID’s

In August I made a birdwatching tour through much of central and southern Peru. But of course not only birds were recorded, however I’m much better with those, than with rodents or mouse opossums, especially since I don’t have very good identification guides for mammals.

So I’m hoping for your help

I guess Rough-toothed Dolphin?!

Probably just Common Bottle-nosed Dolphin?! Seen around Islas de Ballestas

View of the dorsal fin

View of the dorsal fin

Quite sure on ID, still I'd like confirmation

I guess it’s a Dusky Dolphin? Found at Puerto Viejo beach

I think I already had it ID'ed but my notes are in a different country right now. Maybe Rufous Mouse Opossum?

Could this be Bishop’s Slender Opossum? Found at Pantiacolla Lodge, Manu

Different angle

Different angle

Only want confirmation

Only want confirmation: Brown-eared (Western) Woolly Opossum? Also at Pantiacolla

Other angle

Other angle

No clue

No clue. Seen at lake junin. Found hiding in a scrub in some grassland with scattered rocks

No clue

No clue. Also at lake Junin, but in different habitat: Old ruins, together with a guinea pig

Only want confirmation

Only want confirmation: Montane Guinea pig? At lake Junin

A trip report will be coming soon

I’m looking forward to your answers

Sincerely Mathieu

Edit: I had messed up some IDs (like the Opossums) and also had a look at HMW for the dolphins and now changed a few ID’s

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7 Comments

  • 14 October 2015
    vnsankar123

    Your “Delicate Slender Opossum” looks like a Brown-eared Woolly Opossum to me…

    • 14 October 2015
      mathieuwaldeck

      Oops, I got some things messed up here. Delicate Slender was my initial guess for the small one. I also had uploaded the same picture twice for the bigger one (changed that). If I remember right I had guessed some kind of Woolly Opossum for that one already, don’t know if it was Brown-eared. I don’t understand, how I could leave my notes in germany

  • 21 October 2015
    mathieuwaldeck

    Does nobody else here have ideas on these mammals?

  • 2 November 2015
    vdinets

    I agree about the dolphins (or, rather, don’t see any reasons to disagree).

    The small opossum is tricky as you can’t tell the size or dorsal color from the photo. Of the species known or possible there, I think Marmosa macrotarsus, M. demerarae, M. regina and Gracilinanus agilis have darker underparts; M. andersoni, M. lepida and Marmosops noctivagans have dark tail tips. This leaves Marmosops bishopi and M. impavidus; the former has pale cheeks and the latter red cheeks. Yours seems to have pale cheeks 🙂

    The Junin mouse looks like Akodon juninensis (very common at Lake Junin, assuming I identified them correctly). The other two look like Phyllotis xanthopygius, also common there.

    • 2 November 2015
      mathieuwaldeck

      Thank you so much! You’re the greatest.
      I had already thought about Junin Akodon (mainly because of the name), but couldn’t find any pictures on the web.
      What literature do you use to ID mammals like these?

      • 3 November 2015
        vdinets

        For large mammals and marsupials you can use HMW, although they often use inflated taxonomies and everything has to be checked. For rodents, bats and “insectivores”, if there is no regional guide, a good starting point is Walker’s Mammals of the World; you make a list of possibilities and then try to find images and/or descriptions. The most difficult groups are South American bats and rodents, and African shrews.

  • 1 December 2015
    Jon Hall

    Hi Mathieu, I sent this to Fiona Reid who said your Woolly Opossum is indeed C. lanatus and she might be able to get back to you on the mouse once she has checked in a book or two.

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