Real fish rats
| Real fish rats | ||||||||||||
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Icthyomys proudmanni |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Ichthyomys | ||||||||||||
| Thomas , 1893 |
The actual fish rats ( Ichthyomys ) are a species of rodent living in northern South America from the group of fish rats within the New World mice . They include five types.
In shape and size, these fish rats resemble the actual rats ( Rattus ). Their head body length is 11 to 21 centimeters, plus 15 to 19 centimeters of tail. The weight of the largest species, I. tweedii , is around 120 grams. The fur is bristly and rough, it is colored olive brown, gray or black on the upper side, the underside is white. The body is streamlined and flattened. The wide hind feet are webbed. The eyes and ears are small and almost hidden in the thick fur.
These animals are mainly native to northern South America, their distribution area ranges from Panama to Colombia to Venezuela as well as Ecuador and Peru . Their habitat are rivers and streams as well as wetlands at altitudes between 600 and 2800 meters.
They usually spend the day hidden under rocks. They look for their food in the water, they track it down with their whiskers , grab them with their front paws and kill them with their sharp incisors . Despite their name, their diet consists largely of insects and crustaceans and only in large individuals also small fish.
There are five types:
- Ichthyomys hydrobates lives in western Venezuela, Colombia and northern Ecuador .
- Ichthyomys pinei was described in 2020 and is found in the Andes of Ecuador.
- Ichthyomys pittieri is only found in northern Venezuela. The species is named after the Swiss naturalist Henri Pittier and isconsidered endangered ( vulnerable )according to the IUCN .
- Ichthyomys proudmanni lives in eastern Ecuador and Peru.
- Ichthyomys tweedii lives in Panama and Ecuador.
literature
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. 2 volumes. 6th edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD et al. 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
- Don E. Wilson , DeeAnn M. Reeder (Eds.): Mammal Species of the World. A taxonomic and geographic Reference. 2 volumes. 3. Edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8221-4 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Javier Fernández de Córdova, Carlos Nivelo-Villavicencio, Carolina Reyes-Puig, Ulyses FJ Pardiñas and Jorge Brito: A new species of crab-eating rat of the genus Ichthyomys, from Ecuador (Rodentia, Cricetidae, Sigmodontinae). Mammalia 84 (4), 2020, pp. 377-391, doi: 10.1515 / mammalia-2019-0022
Web links
- Endangerment level of the individual species in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species .