Cotton_rat

Cotton rat

Cotton rat

Genus of rodents

A cotton rat is any member of the rodent genus Sigmodon. Their name derives from their damaging effects on cotton as well as other plantation crops, such as sugarcane, corn, peanut and rice.[2][3] Cotton rats have small ears and dark coats, and are found in North and South America. Members of this genus are distributed in the Southwestern United States, Mexico, Central America, and South American countries of: Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Guyana, and Suriname. Many of the species are found in Mexico.

Quick Facts Cotton rats Temporal range: Early Pliocene - Recent, Scientific classification ...

They are primarily herbivores. The molars of cotton rats are S-shaped when viewed from above. The genus name literally means S-tooth.

Sigmodon hispidus was the first model organism to be used in polio research.

Classification

References

  1. [1]
    Musser, G.G.; Carleton, M.D. (2005). "Superfamily Muroidea". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 894–1531. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  2. [2]
    "Cotton Rat | National Environmental Health Association: NEHA". www.neha.org. Retrieved 2021-08-04.
  3. [3]
    "Sigmodon hispidus". www.fs.fed.us. Retrieved 2021-08-04.


Stub icon

This Sigmodon article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Cotton_rat, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.