Rhipidomys nitela Thomas 1901 Rhipidomys nitela Thomas 1901, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, 8: 148. Type Locality: Guyana, Rupununi Dist., Kanuku Mountains, Kwaimatta, 240 ft (73 m). Vernacular Names: Guianan Rhipidomys. Synonyms: Rhipidomys fervidus Thomas 1904; Rhipidomys milleri J. A. Allen 1913; Rhipidomys yuruanus J. A. Allen 1913. Distribution: Amazonian lowlands in S Venezuela, Guianas, and NC Brazil. The reports of the species in Bolivia (Anderson, 1997) and Colombia (Tribe, 1996) cannot be confirmed, and the species appears to be confined to Amazonia east of the Rios Negro-Madeira as so far documented (see Voss et al., 2001). Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc). Discussion: R. leucodactylus section sensu Tribe (1996). Previously listed either as a race of R. venezuelae (Gyldenstolpe, 1932) or R. mastacalis (Cabrera, 1961), but distinct from true venezuelae in Venezuela (see Handley, 1976, who used the species name mastacalis) and from the mastacalis complex in EC Brazil (Tribe, 1996). Morphometric and chromosomal variation cautions that populations arranged as nitela represent a composite of two species (Tribe, 1996; Volobouev and Catzeflis, 2000); Andrades-Miranda et al. (2002 a) considered the 2n = 48 and FN = 68 karyotype to represent R. nitela proper.

Published as part of Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Rodentia - Family Cricetidae, pp. 955-1189 in Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 2, Baltimore :The Johns Hopkins University Press on page 1171, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7316535