First record of Coues's Climbing Mouse Rhipidomys couesi (Rodentia) from Tobago, W.I., with an observation of folivory on the Tobago endemic Dicranopygium insulare (Pandanales)

Abstract

Details the first confirmed sighting of Coues’s Climbing Mouse on the island of Tobago. Originally documented in Trinidad and South America, this nocturnal rodent was identified through photographic evidence uploaded to a citizen science platform and later verified by experts. The discovery is significant because it also provides rare insight into the animal's folivorous diet, specifically its consumption of the leaves of a vulnerable herbaceous plant known as Dicranopygium insulare. This plant is endemic to Tobago, and until now, very little data existed regarding its ecological interactions with local wildlife.