Ashaninka Inca Rat
| Ashaninka Inca Rat | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Cuscomys ashaninka | ||||||||||||
| Emmons , 1999 |
The Ashaninka Inca Rat ( Cuscomys ashaninka ), also known as Asháninka Tree Chinchilla Rat , is a rodent species from the family of chinchillas (Abrocomidae). It was described in 1999, named after the indigenous people of the Asháninka , and occurs in the southeast of the Peruvian Andes in the Cusco region.
features
The Ashaninka Inca rat is a large gray rat with thick fur. The top hair is blackish on the back and approx. 40 mm long, the light gray undercoat is 20 to mm long. The sides of the body, abdomen and throat are light gray. There is a white central line on the head that runs from the forehead to the nose. The chin and lips are also white. The ears are largely hairless. The hair at the base of the ears is long and reaches the tips of the ears. The light or white, stiff whiskers are long and reach behind the shoulders. The broad feet are thinly covered with dark hair on the top. The soles are darkly pigmented at the back and light at the front. The relatively thick tail is two-colored, the half close to the body is red-brown, the half-body white. The holotype , a young female, has a head body length of 34.6 cm, a 26.3 cm long tail and weighs 910 g. The length of the hind foot is 6.5 cm, the skull is longer than 6.5 cm and the ears are 3.9 cm high. Compared to the Machu Picchu Inca rat ( Cuscomys oblativus ), the Ashaninka Inca rat has a wider and longer skull with a flat top, while the skull of the Machu Picchu Inca rat is more domed.
habitat
The holotype found dead was found at an altitude of 3350 meters in a damp, mossy mountain forest, which has a dense population of the bamboo genus Chusquea , as well as Polylepis and Weinmannia . Bite marks indicate that it may have been killed by a long-tailed weasel ( Mustela frenata ). The IUCN can not provide any information about the degree of endangerment of the species because insufficient data is available.
supporting documents
- ↑ a b c Emmons, LH (1999). A new genus and species of abrocomid rodent from Peru (Rodentia: Abrocomidae) . American Museum Novitates 3279: 1-14. Page 2.
- ↑ Cuscomys ashaninka in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016.2. Posted by: N. Roach, 2016. Retrieved January 6, 2019.