Abstract

MIGLIORINI, Raissa P et al. Trichological analysis of guard-hairs of rodents from Brazilian Pampa, with an identification key. Mastozool. neotrop. [online]. 2017, vol.24, n.2, pp.389-399. ISSN 0327-9383.

Species identification using trichology is simple, cheap and fast, and can be used in various fields of study. We analyzed guard-hairs from 17 autochthonous rodent species and three other allochthonous species of the Brazilian Pampas. To aid rodent identification based on hair morphology, we provide an identification key, based on characteristics of the medulla and cuticle. We found six major medullar patterns, and three major cuticular patterns. Together, these provide characters useful for species-level identification. This article presents the first information on hair morphology of six rodent species, and complements existing data for others. Thus, we fill some gaps in the knowledge of the trichology of small non-volant mammals of the Brazilian Pampas, and distinguish most of species occurring in this southernmost region of Brazil.

Keywords : Caviidae; Cricetidae; Cuticle; Medulla; Muridae.

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