The hispid cotton rat (Sigmodon hispidus) is a rat long thought to occur in parts of South America, Central America, and southern North America. However, recent taxonomic revisions, based on mitochondrial DNA sequence data, have split this widely distributed species into three separate species (S. hispidus, S. toltecus, and S. hirsutus). The distribution of S. hispidus ranges from Arizona in the west to Virginia to the east and from the Platte River in Nebraska in the north to, likely, the Rio Grande in the south, where it meets the northern edge of the distribution of S. toltecus (formerly S. h. toltecus). Adult size is total length 202–340 mm (8.0–13.4 in); tail 87–122 mm (3.4–4.8 in), frequently broken or stubbed; hind foot 29–35 mm (1.1–1.4 in); ear 16–20 mm (0.63–0.79 in); mass 50–250 g (1.8–8.8 oz). They have been used as laboratory animals.
Taxonomy The currently accepted scientific name for the hispid cotton rat is Sigmodon hispidus. It is a member of the family Cricetidae. Although 25 subspecies are accepted, including the type subspecies, the most distinct genetic subdivision within S. hispidus separates the species into two genetic lineages, an eastern one and a western one, which hybridize along a contact zone.
Distribution In the United States, the hispid cotton rat ranges from southern Virginia and North Carolina (especially the coastal plain) west through Tennessee, northern Missouri, Kansas, and extreme southern Nebraska to southeastern Colorado, New Mexico, and southeastern Arizona; south to the Gulf Coast; and south to northern Mexico. It does not occur on the coastal plain of North Carolina nor in the mountains of Virginia. Disjunct populations occur in southeastern Arizona and extreme southeastern California into Baja California Norte. In Kansas, it appeared within the last 50 years.
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