Brushtail rats
| Brushtail rats | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Isothrix | ||||||||||||
| Wagner , 1845 |
The brush tail rats ( Isothrix ) are a rodent genus in the family of spiny rats with six species that occur in South America .
species
The IUCN lists the following types.
- Barbara's brush- tailed rat ( Isothrix barbarabrownae ) lives in a small area in the Peruvian Andes .
- The yellow-crowned brush- tailed rat ( Isothrix bistriata ) occurs east of the Andes from southern Colombia to northern Bolivia and western Brazil .
- The Rio Negro brush- tailed rat ( Isothrix negrensis ) lives in the Amazon region in western Brazil and in neighboring regions of Colombia.
- Isothrix orinoci is common in southern Venezuela as well as in neighboring areas of Colombia and Brazil. Until 2015 it was considered a subspecies of the yellow-crowned brush-tailed rat.
- The lowland brush- tailed rat ( Isothrix pagurus ) is native to the central Amazon region.
- For the Sinnamary brush- tailed rat ( Isothrix sinnamariensis ) there are isolated finds from the Guiana landscape .
Features and way of life
With a head-torso length of 18 to 27.5 cm, a tail length of 17 to 30 cm and a weight of 320 to 570 g, the species are medium-sized spiny rats. The German common name refers to the bushy tail, which resembles a squirrel's tail. Unlike many other spiny rats, the fur is soft, with no bristles or spines. The color varies depending on the species between gray, brown, yellow and sometimes orange tones. With their short and wide feet, which are equipped with curved claws, brush-tail rats are well adapted to life in trees.
These rodents mostly rest in tree hollows that are often 10 meters above the ground. They prefer trees by watercourses in evergreen forests. A female of the yellow-crowned bristle-tailed rat was pregnant with one embryo .
Reference literature
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Volume 2. 6th edition. 1999, p. 1695, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Isothrix in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015. Accessed November 10, 2016.
- ↑ Don E. Wilson , DeeAnn M. Reeder (Ed.): Mammal Species of the World . A taxonomic and geographic Reference . 3. Edition. 2 volumes. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8221-4 (English, Isothrix ).