Pig-nosed shrew rat
| Pig-nosed shrew rat | ||||||||||||
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Pig-nosed shrew ( Hyorhinomys stuempkei ) |
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Hyorhinomys | ||||||||||||
| Esselstyn , Achmadi & Handika & Rowe | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Hyorhinomys stuempkei | ||||||||||||
| Esselstyn, Achmadi, Handika, Rowe, 2015 |
The pig-nosed shrew rat ( Hyorhinomys stuempkei ) is a small rodent from the family of long-tailed mice (Muridae) that is found on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi . The species was named in honor of Gerolf Steiner , who published the book Construction and Life of Rhinogradentia under the pseudonym Harald Stümpke , a humorous book about a fictional group of mammals on a remote Pacific archipelago, in whose evolution the nose played an important role. The pig-nosed shrew rat is so far only known from the type locality located at an altitude of 1600 meters on a mountain slope on the northern peninsula in the province of Sulawesi Tengah . However, it could be much more widespread, as the mice of the mountainous regions of northern Sulawesi have not yet been researched in detail.
features
The pig-nosed shrew rat is a relatively large shrew rat, which is only surpassed by the two species of the great Sulawesi shrew rats ( Tateomys ). It reaches a total length of 36 to 43 cm, of which 18.5 to 22 cm are accounted for by the tail, which is slightly longer than the head and trunk together. The head is relatively large in relation to body size, the skull is long and delicate, but the eyes and mouth are small compared to the size of the head. The large nose is pink, the nostrils point forward. The ears are large and reach a length of about 21% of the length of the head and torso . On the top of the tongue there is a noticeable, longitudinal groove. On the forefoot, the second, third, fourth and fifth toes have wide claws. They only protrude about 1 mm above the tips of the toes. The fur is thin and short. The back is stained brown-gray, the belly is whitish. The rear 60% of the tail is solid white, the front section is dark above and white below.
Habitat and way of life
All five known specimens of the pig-nosed shrew rat were caught at night on the ground at an altitude of around 1,600 meters. The biotope is a mountain forest, so far untouched by humans, with a heavily mossy substrate and trees overgrown with epiphytes . The stomachs of three specimens contained the remains of earthworms, beetle larvae and other insect remains that were no longer identifiable.
Systematics
Hyorhinomys stuempkei belongs to a clade of long-tailed mice endemic to Sulawesi, which are known in German as "shrew rats" and in English as "shrew rats". The common characteristics of all species in the group are a long muzzle, soft fur, white enamel on the incisors and small molars. All carnivorous feed on invertebrates.
The following cladogram shows the systematics of the Sulawesi shrew rats:
| Sulawesi - shrew rats |
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literature
- Jacob A. Esselstyn, Anang S. Achmadi, Heru Handika, Kevin C. Rowe, 2015. A hog-nosed shrew rat (Rodentia: Muridae) from Sulawesi Island, Indonesia. Journal of Mammalogy 96 (5): 895-907; doi: 10.1093 / jmammal / gyv093
Web links
- Museum Victoria video on the discovery of the species on YouTube