Pencil-tailed tree mouse

Pencil-tailed tree mice
Temporal range: Late Pliocene to Holocene, 2.588–0 Ma[1]
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Indomalayan pencil-tailed tree mouse in Thailand
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Muridae
Tribe: Hydromyini
Genus: Chiropodomys
Peters, 1868
Type species
Mus gliroides
Species

Chiropodomys calamianensis
Chiropodomys gliroides
Chiropodomys karlkoopmani
Chiropodomys major
Chiropodomys muroides
Chiropodomys pusillus †Chiropodomys maximus
†Chiropodomys primitivus

Synonyms

Insulaemus Taylor, 1934

Chiropodomys (or pencil-tailed tree mice) is a genus of Old World rats and mice native to Southeast Asia and northeast India.[2] They are tree-dwelling, very small mice, mostly found in tropical rainforest. In total six extant species have been identified, but only one of these, Chiropodomys gliroides, is common and widely distributed, and has been extensively studied.

Species

Genus Chiropodomys — pencil-tailed tree mice:[2]

Description

Species of Chiropodomys have a body length of 7 to 12 cm, plus a tail of 9 to 17 cm. They are generally gray or brown on the back and white underneath. The tail is only sparsely covered with hair, but has somewhat more at the end, giving the appearance of a pencil, thus the genus name.

Chiropodomys gliroides is particularly common in bamboo forest. It is active at night, sleeps during the day in a nest in the bamboo, padded with leaves. It eats exclusively plants.

Previously, it was thought that Chiropodomys were closely related to the genus Hapalomys (marmoset rats), with both forming a clade with Micromys and Vandeleuria; however, more recent phylogenetic studies support them being closely allied with the Australasian mice and rats of the tribe Hydromyini, either as a distinct tribe of their own or as a group within Hydromyini.[3][4]

References

  1. ^ "Chiropodomys Peters 1868". Paleobiology Database. Fossilworks. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  2. ^ a b Musser, G. G.; Carleton, M. D. (2005). "Superfamily Muroidea". In Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 894–1531. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  3. ^ Pagès, Marie; Fabre, Pierre-Henri; Chaval, Yannick; Mortelliti, Alessio; Nicolas, Violaine; Wells, Konstans; Michaux, Johan R.; Lazzari, Vincent (2016). "Molecular phylogeny of South-East Asian arboreal murine rodents". Zoologica Scripta. 45 (4): 349–364. doi:10.1111/zsc.12161. hdl:10072/101842. ISSN 1463-6409. S2CID 86285898.
  4. ^ Database, Mammal Diversity (2021-11-06), Mammal Diversity Database, retrieved 2021-12-11
  • Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
  • Wells K, Pfeiffer M, Lakim MB & Linsenmair KE (2004) "Arboreal spacing patterns of the Large pencil-tailed tree mouse Chiropodomys major in a rainforest in Sabah, Malaysia." Ecotropica 10 : 15-22
  • Wells K, Pfeiffer M, Lakim MB & Linsenmair KE (2004) "Use of arboreal and terrestrial space by a small mammal community in a tropical rain forest in Borneo, Malaysia." Journal of Biogeography 31 : 641-652.