NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Costa Central Oryzomys
Nephelomys caracolus (Thomas, 1914)
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.
Open encyclopedia reference
Nephelomys caracolus, also known as the Costa Central oryzomys or caracol rice rat, is a species of rodent in the genus Nephelomys of family Cricetidae. It is found in cloud forest in the Cordillera de la Costa Central of Aragua, Miranda, and the Distrito Federal in north-central Venezuela at elevations from 1000 to 2500 m. It is nocturnal and terrestrial, and has a varied diet. In most Nephelomys species, the posterolateral palatal pits, perforations of the palate near the third molar, are conspicuous and receded into a fossa, but in N. caracolus and the Ecuadorian species N. nimbosus, the pits are much smaller. Oldfield Thomas originally described the species, in 1914, as a member of Oryzomys, Oryzomys caracolus. From 1960 on, it was included in Oryzomys capito, the current Hylaeamys megacephalus, and subsequently in Oryzomys albigularis. In the 1990s, studies of the Venezuelan populations of the O. albigularis group, based on data from karyotypes and morphometrics, provided evidence for the distinctiveness of O. caracolus and the other Venezuelan species of the group, O. meridensis.
Wikipedia contributors, Nephelomys caracolus; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T09:41:00.458602+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Nephelomys caracolus (Thomas, 1914)
- Name authority
- (Thomas, 1914)
- Common name
- Costa Central Oryzomys
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Rodentia
- Family
- Cricetidae
- Genus
- Nephelomys
- 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
- genusNephelomys Weksler, Percequillo & Voss, 2006
- speciesNephelomys caracolus (Thomas, 1914)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Nephelomys. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Light-footed Rice RatNephelomys levipes (Thomas, 1902) | CricetidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Tomes's Rice RatNephelomys albigularis (Tomes, 1860) | CricetidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Ecuadorean Rice RatNephelomys auriventer (Thomas, 1899) | CricetidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Nephelomys pectoralis (J. A. Allen, 1912) | CricetidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Nephelomys childi (Thomas, 1895) | CricetidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Boquete Rice RatNephelomys devius (Bangs, 1902) | CricetidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Oryzomys caracolus Thomas, 1914 Thomas, 1914 | synonym |
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=972495 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. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
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:73WZ9. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.