Nicobar palm rat

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nicobar palm rat
Systematics
Family : Long-tailed mice (Muridae)
Subfamily : Old World Mice (Murinae)
Tribe : Rattini
Rattus group
Genre : Rats ( rattus )
Type : Nicobar palm rat
Scientific name
Rattus palmarum
( Zelebor , 1869)

The Nicobar palm rat or Car-Nicobar palm rat ( Rattus palmarum ) is a species of mammal from the genus of rats within rodents (Rodentia). She lives exclusively on the Nicobar Islands , a group of islands belonging to India in the Bay of Bengal . The species was discovered and described by the Austrian zoologist Johann Zelebor , the zoologist who participated in the Novara expedition of the SMS Novara of the Austrian Navy and who collected the first specimens of the species on the island of Car Nicobar .

features

The Nicobar palm rat reaches a head-trunk length of 22.5 to 24 centimeters with a tail length of 22 to 23 centimeters. The rear foot length is 48 millimeters. This makes it a comparatively large species within rats. It has a thick and rough coat. The back fur is dark brown with isolated, longer black protective hair and soft hair spikes. The ventral side is white. The ears are dark brown, the vibrissae on the face are comparatively long. The continuously dark brown tail is shorter than the head-torso length and is therefore relatively short within the genus. The females have five pairs of teats , two in the armpit and three in the lumbar region.

The skull is large and compact, it reaches a length of 49 to 54 millimeters. Morphologically, the species is similar to the Nicobar island rat ( Rattus burrus ), which lives on some islands in the south of the archipelago. This is a little smaller than the Nicobar palm rat and has a slightly smaller skull and a softer fur.

distribution

The species is endemic to the Nicobar Islands , an archipelago belonging to India in the Bay of Bengal . There it is recorded on Car Nicobar and Groß Nikobar .

Way of life

Very little information is available about the way of life of the Nicobar palm rat. It lives in tropical evergreen and semi-evergreen forest and mangrove areas on the islands at altitudes up to a maximum of 150 meters. It is nocturnal and probably prefers to live on the ground and in the treetops of the coconut palms . There is no information available on nutrition and reproduction.

Systematics

The Nicobar palm rat is regarded as an independent species within the rats (genus Rattus ) and was scientifically described in 1869 by the Austrian zoologist Johann Zelebor under the name Mus palmarum . Zelebor was a zoologist on the Novara expedition of the SMS Novara of the Austrian Navy , on which he collected the type specimens of the Nicobar palm rat. He himself did not give an exact location of the species, this was reconstructed by Karl von Scherzer following the publication of the trip of the Austrian frigate Novara around the earth in the years 1857, 1858, 1859 under the orders of Commodore R. von Wüllerstort-Urbair . According to his report, very few mammal species were discovered on the Nicobar Islands and the animals were collected on the island of Car Nicobar . The Nicobar palm rat has not been represented in molecular biological analyzes so far, which means that the position within the genus is considered unclear, and there is probably a closer relationship to the Nicobar island rat ( Rattus bussus ) and the Malay field rat ( Rattus tiomanicus ). Occasionally the Nicobar island rat is considered a subspecies or synonym of the Nicobar palm rat.

No subspecies are delimited within the species.

Hazard and protection

The species is classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) as an endangered species ("vulnerable"). The potential range is very limited and no information is available on the size of the population . The 2004 tsunami , which inundated most of the Nicobar Islands and destroyed their habitats, added to the threat to the species. The development after the tidal wave, the establishment and expansion of human settlements, the conversion of forests into palm plantations are also a serious threat to the species there.

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h C. Denys, PJ Taylor, KP Aplin et al .: Car Nicobar Rat Rattus palmarum. In: Don E. Wilson, TE Lacher, Jr., Russell A. Mittermeier (Eds.): Handbook of the Mammals of the World: Rodents 2. (HMW, Volume 7) Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2017, ISBN 978-84- 16728-04-6 , pp. 831-832.
  2. ↑ a b c Rattus burrus. In: 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 .
  3. ↑ a b c Rattus palmarum. In: 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 .
  4. ↑ Rattus burrus in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2019 Posted by: S. Molur, 2008. Accessed November 9 of 2019.

literature

  • C. Denys, PJ Taylor, KP Aplin et al .: Car Nicobar Rat Rattus palmarum. In: Don E. Wilson, TE Lacher, Jr., Russell A. Mittermeier (Eds.): Handbook of the Mammals of the World: Rodents 2. (HMW, Volume 7) Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2017, ISBN 978-84- 16728-04-6 , pp. 831-832.

Web links