Brachytarsomys albicauda, Gunther, 1875

Don E. Wilson, Russell A. Mittermeier & Thomas E. Lacher, Jr, 2017, Nesomyidae, Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 7 Rodents II, Barcelona: Lynx Edicions, pp. 156-203 : 185

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.6600357

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6600201

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03993828-FFF0-0F54-FFE5-FDBACE61F8CD

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

Brachytarsomys albicauda
status

 

1. View Plate 8: Nesomyidae

White-tailed Tree Rat

Brachytarsomys albicauda View in CoL

French: Antsangy a queue blanche / German: MadagaskarWeilRschwanzratte / Spanish: Rata arboricola de cola blanca

Other common names: White-tailed Antsangy

Taxonomy. Brachytarsomys albicauda Gunther, 1875 View in CoL ,

“ Tamantave [= Toamasina| to Murundava [= Morondava].”

This species is monotypic.

Distribution. Endemic to the Central Highlands and E Madagascar. View Figure

Descriptive notes. Head-body 223-235 mm, tail 220-245 mm; weight 235-280 g. Muzzle of the White-tailed Tree Rat is short, and fur is soft, somewhat shaggy with dense woolly texture. Dorsum is grayish brown and more reddish toward sides and head. Belly and legs are cream. Ears are short. Tail has scattered hair, distal portion is black, and last 8-10 mm are white. Legs, digits, and toes are short. In some individuals, reddish color on flanks extends to dorsum.

Habitat. Eastern humid lowland to montane forest at elevations of 875-1875 m.

Food and Feeding. Diet of the White-tailed Tree Rat is presumably composed offruits, seeds, and perhaps foliage. It enters traps baited with banana. A large cache of seed capsules from Canarium (Burseraceae) was found in hollow broken tree limb.

Breeding. There are four pairs of mammae, and maximum known littersizeis six young.

Activity patterns. The White-tailed Tree Rat is nocturnal and strictly arboreal. It is known to roost in tree holes. Its tail is prehensile, and at night, it seems primate-like.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. At one site, a White-tailed Tree Rat shared a tree hole with a Hairy-eared Dwarf Lemur (Allocebus trichotis).

Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. The Whitetailed Tree Rat is a forest-dwelling species and is known from less than 15 localities spanning eastern humid forests of Madagascar. Given continued declines ofits habitat, its mediumand long-term future is uncertain.

Bibliography. Biebouw et al. (2009), Carleton & Goodman (2003a), Carleton & Schmidt (1990), Goodman & Sterling (1996), Goodman, Ganzhorn & Rakotondravony (2003), Goodman, Soarimalala et al. (2013), Ramanana (2010), Soarimalala & Goodman (2011).

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Rodentia

Family

Nesomyidae

Genus

Brachytarsomys

Loc

Brachytarsomys albicauda

Don E. Wilson, Russell A. Mittermeier & Thomas E. Lacher, Jr 2017
2017
Loc

Brachytarsomys albicauda

Gunther 1875
1875
GBIF Dataset (for parent article) Darwin Core Archive (for parent article) View in SIBiLS Plain XML RDF