A new record of Calassomys apicalis (Rodentia, Cricetidae) in the Espinhaço Mountain Range, Brazil

We present herein the record of the monotypic sigmodontine rodent Calassomys apicalis Pardiñas, Lessa, Salazar-Bravo and Câmara 2014 in the Brazilian Cerrado, based on two adult male specimens collected in a rocky outcrops area (campo rupestre) in southern portion of Espinhaço Mountain Range, in May and June 2016. This taxon was previously known only from the type locality at Parque Nacional das Sempre Vivas, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. The fecal analysis of the specimens collected in this study indicates a diversified diet with the consumption of arthropods and vegetative parts of plants in different proportions, being the first record about the feeding habits of this species.

Calassomys apicalis is characterized by a moderately large and naked ear and a long bicolored tail with a totally white distal end.Its dentition is characterized by the persistence of vestigial mesolophs and mesostyles on booth upper 1 st and 2 nd molars, unique features within the Phyllotini.The karyotipe of C. apicalis shows a diploid number (2n) of 62 and fundamental number (FN) of 116 chromossomes (Pardiñas et al., 2014).
To date, the available data on natural history of C. apicalis mention that this is a terrestrial rodent that inhabits campos rupestres (Pardiñas et al., 2014), but, there is no information on diet, reproduction or population structure for this species.The goal of the present study is to report the first record of C. apicalis outside the type locality and provide information on their diet.

Material and Methods
We collected two adult males of C. apicalis in a campo rupestre area (18° 11' S; 43° 34' W; elevation 1322 m a. s. l.) in southern portion of Espinhaço Mountain Range, northern Minas Gerais State, during two field traps in May and June 2016 (Figure 1).The climate is type Cwb, ac-  Zoociências 18(3): 45-50. 2017 .47cording to the Köppen classification, with mild, humid summers (October to April) and cool and dry winters (June to August).The average annual rainfall varies from 223 to 1550 mm and the average annual temperature ranges from 17 °C to 19 °C (Neves et al., 2005).All specimens were collected in an area of rocky outcrops close to a watercourse surrounded by bush/shrub vegetation, as well as open grasslands areas.
The specimens were trapped in Tomahawk traps (300 × 160 × 160 mm) set on the ground and baited with a mixture of banana, sardine oil, corn meal and oat grains.Two voucher specimens (both adult males) were preserved as study skin, skull, post-cranial skeleton, and tissue samples (liver fixed in 96% ethanol), and have been deposited in the Scientific Collection of the Departamento de Ciências Biológicas/Uni-versidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri, Diamantina, Minas Gerais, Brazil, under the catalog numbers MDIA114 and MDIA116.Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBio) issued the collecting permit (license no.52836-1).
We examined external and dental morphology of the two voucher specimens of C. apicalis (Figure 2  We also collected feces directly from each specimen during manipulation or inside the trap.The samples were stored in paper envelopes and preserved at -10 o C to avoid fungi infestation.One fecal sample was considered as being all feces produced by a single captured animal in a night.In laboratory, feces were examined under a stereoscopic microscope and food items were identified to the lowest taxonomic level. The following small mammal's species were also captured in the same trap-lines that C. apicalis, the cricetids Oligoryzomys nigripes (Olfers, 1818) and Cerradomys subflavus (Wagner, 1842); the echimyid Thrichomys apereoides (Lund, 1839) and the didelphid marsupial Monodelphis domestica (Wagner, 1842).

Results and Discussion
According to the available data, C. apicalis has a restricted range distribution, occurring in campos rupestres montane savannas at Espinhaço Mountain Range (Patton et al., 2015).The Espinhaço Range has been acknowledged as a center of endemism for plants (Giullietti et al. 1997), anurans, lizards and birds (Rodrigues, 1987;Pugliese et al., 2004;Eterovick et al., 2005;Nascimento et al., 2005;Rodrigues et al., 2005).However, as for the mammals, most species inhabiting campos rupestres are ordinarily found in other physiognomies in the Cerrado biome (Lessa et al., 2008;Silva et al., 2014).Thus far, due to the insufficiency of faunistic inventories, future researches are necessary to clarify if C. apicalis are restricted to this kind of habitat, at rock outcrops of the Espinhaço Range or if such species are restricted to mountains or massifs with campos rupestres, but not necessarily endemic to this vegetation complex (see Silva et al., 2014).Up to now, just one other Philotini rodent, Oligoryzomys rupestris Weskler & Bonvicino, 2005, are known exclusively from campos rupestres, with scattered populations in the Brazilian States of Goias, Minas Gerais, and Bahia at elevations above 1000 m a. s. l. (Weksler & Bonvicino, 2005).The paucity of geographic information on C. apicalis, also reflects how little is known about the biology of this species, and until now, information about its feeding habits are inexistent.The fecal analysis of the specimens collected in this study indicates the consumption of arthropods (mainly Isoptera and Hymenoptera), vegetative parts of plants (leaves and stems) and also flowers.A diversified diet with the consumption of arthropods and vegetative parts of plants in different proportions was also observed in other rodent species in campos rupestres such as Cerradomys subflavus and Thrichomys apereoides (Lessa & Costa, 2009;Paula et al. 2016 in press).
The increase in recent years of new small mammal's records in campos rupestres areas at the Espinhaço Mountain Range is noteworthy, and has provided important data on its distribution, taxonomy and ecology (see Pereira & Geise, 2009;Pardiñas et al., 2014;Loss et al., 2015;Braga et al., 2016).Nevertheless, the current level of knowledge on the composition and distribution of Phyllotini rodents in habiting rock outcrops in campos rupestres across this wide re-.49gion is still scarce.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Map showing type locality of Calassomys apicalis at Parque Nacional das Sempre Vivas, Minas Gerais state, Brazil, and the location of our study site.
) and confirmed the taxonomic identification comparing with other taxonomic specimens from the type locality housed in the Scientific Collection of the Museu de Ciências Naturais da Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais (catalog numbers MCN-M2176; MCN-M2188), Minas Gerais, Brazil.Morphologic characteristics considered for species diagnosis follows Pardiñas et al. (2014).

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Ventral view of the skull and jaw of Calassomys apicalis highlighting the persistence of vestigial mesolophs and mesostyles on booth upper 1 st and 2 nd molars (white circles).Photo by Pacheco MAC.Scale bar = 5 mm (A and B); 0.5 mm (C).