Rediscovery of Oryzomys gorgasi (Rodentia: Muridae).: With notes on taxonomy and natural history

We report the first record of Oryzomys gorgasi from Venezuela, based on 11 specimens collected in the northwestern coastal lowlands. The Venezuelan series represents the only new material of O. gorgasi to have been collected since the original description of the type (from northwestern Colombia), and extends the known distribution of this rodent about 700 km to the northeast. The new specimens closely resemble the holotype, with only minor differences that are plausibly attributable to captive artifacts. We provide an emended description of O. gorgasi based on the new materials, and comment on diagnostic differences from other members of the Oryzomys palustris group to which it obviously belongs. By contrast with other Venezuelan species of Oryzomys, all of which inhabit inland forest habitats, O. gorgasi lives in mangroves and swamp forests associated with coastal marine environments. Examination of stomach contents suggests that this species is omnivorous. The continued survival in Venezuela of this apparently uncommon and ecologically restricted rodent may be threatened by competition with Rattus rattus and by the accelerating anthropogenic destruction and degradation of its habitat.