Dwarf fat-tailed pouch rat
| Dwarf fat-tailed pouch rat | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Thylamys velutinus | ||||||||||||
| ( Wagner , 1942) |
The dwarf fat- tailed pouch rat ( Thylamys velutinus ) occurs in the south-east and south-center of Brazil in the states of Goiás , Minas Gerais and São Paulo .
description
The animals reach a head trunk length of 7.9 to 10 cm and have a 6.5 to 10 cm long tail and reach a weight of 13 to 36 g. The tail is usually 85% of the length of the head. The animals are dark red-brown in color and are significantly lighter on the sides of the body, on the face, around the eyes and on the cheeks than on the back and the top of the head. The eyes are surrounded by narrow dark rings that extend far forward towards the nose, but do not reach it. The peritoneum is gray or off-white. In contrast to most other fat-tailed rats, the hair is not banded. The hair on the back fur is 6 to 8 mm long, on the stomach the hair is 5 to 6 mm long. The ears are dark and hairless. Front and rear paws are whitish, front and rear legs are gray-brown. The fat storage tail can reach a diameter of 3.5 to 7 mm. It is dark on the top and light on the underside. The females have no pouch. The number of teats is unknown. The karyotype of the beautiful fat-tailed rat consists of a chromosome set of 2n = 14 chromosomes (FN = 20).
Habitat and way of life
The dwarf fat-tailed rat lives in the Brazilian Cerrado in savannahs with bushes and trees and on areas used for agriculture. It is largely ground-dwelling, nocturnal and its main phase of activity begins after sunset. As the night progresses, their activity decreases more and more. So far nothing is known about their reproductive biology and little is known about their diet in the wild. Investigations of faeces samples showed that the animals eat about 75% of animal food (44% remains of arthropods , 31% cannot be identified) and 25% of plant material. Specimens kept in human care ate bananas and papayas , mealworms and grasshoppers , as well as live young mice. The latter were also overwhelmed, killed and eaten when their weight was 40% of the weight of the dwarf fat-tailed rat.
Systematics
The dwarf fat-tailed pouch rat was first described in 1934 by the German zoologist Johann Andreas Wagner under the name Didelphis velutina , i.e. assigned to the opossums . Today the beautiful fat- tailed rat is placed in the genus of the fat- tailed rat ( Thylamys ). Within the genus Thylamys , the dwarf fat- tailed pouch rat occupies a relatively basal position.
status
The IUCN lists the dwarf fat-tailed pouch rat as potentially endangered. It has a relatively large distribution area and is also found in various protected areas, but is probably not as numerous as other fat-tailed rats.
supporting documents
- ↑ a b c d Diego Astúa: Family Didelphidae (Opossums). in Don E. Wilson , Russell A. Mittermeier : Handbook of the Mammals of the World - Volume 5. Monotremes and Marsupials. Lynx Editions, 2015, ISBN 978-84-96553-99-6 . Page 176.
- ↑ R. Eduardo Palma, Dusan Boric Bargetto, Pablo Jayat, David A. Flores et a .: Molecular phylogenetics of mouse opossums: new findings on the phylogeny of Thylamys (Didelphimorphia, Didelphidae). Zoologica Scripta 43 (3): 217-234 January 2014, PDF
- ↑ Thylamys velutinus in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2016 Posted by: Flores, D. & Teta, P., 2016. Accessed on 22/03/2020.