NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Brazilian arboreal mouse
Rhagomys rufescens (Thomas, 1886)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Rhagomys rufescens
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Open encyclopedia reference
The Brazilian arboreal mouse (Rhagomys rufescens) is a South American rodent species of the family Cricetidae. It is found in the Atlantic Forest of southeast Brazil, often close to bamboo thickets. It can be distinguished from Rhagomys longilingua, the only other species in its genus, by the absence of spines among the hair. Formerly believed to be extinct after no sightings were recorded for over 100 years, the species has since been found in four localities. However, it is nowhere common, and all of these are forest fragments, and ongoing deforestation threatens the species' survival. For these reasons, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being "vulnerable".
Wikipedia contributors, Brazilian arboreal mouse; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T10:43:19.411655+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Rhagomys rufescens (Thomas, 1886)
- Name authority
- (Thomas, 1886)
- Common name
- Brazilian arboreal mouse
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Rodentia
- Family
- Cricetidae
- Genus
- Rhagomys
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
- subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
- infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
- orderRodentia Bowdich, 1821
- suborderMyomorpha Brandt, 1855
- superfamilyMuroidea Illiger, 1811
- familyCricetidae Fischer, 1817
- subfamilySigmodontinae Wagner, 1843
- genusRhagomys Thomas, 1917
- speciesRhagomys rufescens (Thomas, 1886)
Close classified relatives
No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=633332 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:4RZ7F. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.