Scolomys

Scolomys is a genus of rodent in the tribe Oryzomyini of the family Cricetidae. Some evidence suggests that it is related to Zygodontomys. It is characterized, among other traits, by spiny fur. It contains two species, S. melanops and S. ucayalensis.

==Taxonomy== The genus Scolomys was first described by the American zoologist H. E. Anthony in 1920, to accommodate six specimens collected by the British-born American zoologist George Henry Hamilton Tate on the eastern slopes of the Andes in Ecuador. These specimens belonged to a single species Scolomys melanops, and for a long time the genus was considered to be monotypic. However, following survey work in the upper Amazon basin many decades later, a further species S. ucayalensis was described from northern Peru by Pacheco in 1991, followed by a third, S. juruaense from western Brazil by Patton and da Silva in 1994. In 2004, Gomez-Laverde and co-workers reviewed the systematics of the genus and its distribution, and suggested that S. juruaense was not sufficiently distinct from S. ucayalensis to warrant being classified as a separate species.