Taxonomy news

Everything from the Neotropics today.
1. A cool open-access paper describing a new species Histiotus mochica from the coastal desert of northern Peru. Although currently known from just two specimens, it is apparently portrayed in ancient Moche art so probably isn’t that rare. I saw one in Cerros de Amotape NP back in 1995 and never could ID since there were no known Histiotus from that area. (As a reminder, Histiotus is nested within Eptesicus).
2. A paper splitting Holochilus sciureus into three species, including H. nanus (the Amazon and the Guyanas), H. sciureus s. str. (Brazil S from the Amazon), and newly described H. oxe, which is limited to the easternmost part of Brazil, mostly in Pernambuco and Alagoas.
3. A paper finally sorting out the systematics of widespread agoutis. It synonymizes Dasyprocta azarae with D. variegata; also, the latter species apparently occurs from SC Peru to Argentina while D. punctata occurs from Mexico to N Peru.

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