KraigYee56 at 13:32, 2 October 2025

2025-10-02T13:32:45Z

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{{Short description|Species of rodent}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Manipur bush rat
| image = MusHumiiKeulemans.jpg
| status = EN
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=Molur, S. |author2=Laginha Pinto Correia, D. |date=2016 |title=''Hadromys humei'' |volume=2016 |article-number=e.T9618A22410442 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-2.RLTS.T9618A22410442.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref>
| genus = Hadromys
| species = humei
| authority = ([[Oldfield Thomas|Thomas]], 1886)
| synonyms = ''Mus humei'', ''Mus humii''
}}
The '''Manipur bush rat''' ('''''Hadromys humei'''''), also known as '''Hume's rat''' or '''Hume's hadromys''', is a species of [[rodent]] in the family [[Muridae]]. It is found in northeastern [[India]], and is listed as endangered.

==Range and habitat==
The species is endemic to [[northeast India]], and has been recorded from several localities.<ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021" /> These are: Angarakhata in [[Kamrup Rural district|Kamrup]] district ([[Assam]]), [[Bishnupur, Manipur|Bishnupur]], Imphal, [[Senapati]] and Karong (specimen FMNH 76562) in Manipur.<ref name="Musser (1987)"/>

Originally thought to occur in [[Yunnan]] in China also, the Chinese animals have been reclassified as ''[[Hadromys yunnanensis]]'' Yang & Wang 1987.<ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021" /><ref name="Musser & Carleton (2005)">{{cite book |title=Mammal Species of the World - a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (Volume 1)|last=Musser|first=G.G. |chapter="Superfamily Muroidea"
|author2=Carleton, M.D. |year=2005 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore |edition=3 |editor=Wilson, D.E. |editor2=Reeder, D.M. |isbn=978-0-8018-8221-0 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YnYED-YG0ZYC&q=Hadromys+humei&pg=PA1327 |access-date=25 May 2011}}</ref> The [[fossil]] record shows that populations of the Manipur Bush Rat existed all over [[Thailand]] right down to the Thai-Malay border during the [[Pleistocene]].<ref name="Chaimanee & Jaeger (2000)">{{cite journal |title=Occurrence of ''Hadromys humei'' (Rodentia: Muridae) during the Pleistocene in Thailand |author=Yaowalak Chaimanee |author2=Jean-Jacques Jaeger |name-list-style=amp |journal=[[Journal of Mammalogy]] |volume=81 |issue=3 |year=2000 |pages=659–665 |doi=10.1644/1545-1542(2000)081<0659:oohhrm>2.3.co;2|doi-access=free }}</ref> During that time, the Indo-Malayan region may have had a cooler and drier climate with savanna-like regions. A related species is known from the [[Siwalik]] fossils from northern [[Pakistan]].<ref name="Musser (1987)">{{cite journal |hdl=2246/5216 |title=The occurrence of ''Hadromys'' (Rodentia, Muridae) in early Pleistocene Siwalik strata in northern Pakistan and its bearing on biogeographic affinities between Indian and northeastern African murine faunas |journal=[[American Museum Novitates]] |issue=2883 |last=Musser |first=Guy G. |year=1987}}</ref> These findings indicate that ''Hadromys humei'' is probably a "relict" species.<ref name="Musser & Carleton (2005)"/>

The Manipur bush rat occurs at medium altitudes from {{convert|900|to|1300|m|ft|abbr=on}} above sea level.<ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021" /> It inhabits tropical evergreen, moist deciduous and evergreen forests and also found in secondary forests in northeastern India.<ref name="Molur et al (2005)">{{cite book |title=Status of South Asian Non-volant Small Mammals: Conservation Assessment and Management Plan (C.A.M.P.) Workshop Report. |last1=Molur |first1=S. |last2=Srinivasulu |first2=C. |last3=Srinivasulu |first3=Bhargavi |last4=Walker |first4=Sally |last5=Nameer |first5=P.O. |last6=Ravikumar |first6=Latha |year=2005 |publisher=Zoo Outreach Organisation / Captive Breeding Specialist Group -South Asia |location=Coimbatore, India |isbn=81-88722-11-1 |page=289 |url=http://www.zooreach.org/downloads/ZOO_CAMP_PHVA_reports/2005%20Rodent%20CAMP%20report.pdf |access-date=24 May 2011 |archive-date=2011-07-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722210045/http://www.zooreach.org/downloads/ZOO_CAMP_PHVA_reports/2005%20Rodent%20CAMP%20report.pdf }}</ref>

==Discovery==
The murid was described by [[Oldfield Thomas]] in 1886 from specimens in the [[Manipur]] collection of [[Allan Octavian Hume]],<ref name="Thomas, 1886">{{cite journal |last1=Thomas |first1=Oldfield |year=1886 |title=On the Mammals presented by Allan O. Hume, Esq. |journal=Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London |publisher=Zoological Society of London|page=54 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/28985059 |access-date=22 May 2011 }}</ref> which was donated to the [[British Museum (Natural History)]] after Hume's life's work in [[ornithology|ornithological]] notes were sold by a servant as waste paper.<ref name="Moulton (2003)">{{cite book |last1=Moulton |first1=Edward |year=2003 |chapter=The Contributions of Allan O. Hume to the Scientific Advancement of Indian Ornithology |title=Petronia: Fifty Years of Post-Independence Ornithology in India |editor1-last=Daniel |editor1-first=J. C. |editor2-last=Ugra |editor2-first=G. W. |publisher=BNHS, Bombay & Oxford University Press, New Delhi |pages=295–317}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Eponym Dictionary of Mammals |last=Beolens |first=Bo |author2=Watkins, Michael |author3=Grayson, Michael |year=2009 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore |isbn=978-0-8018-9304-9 |pages=200–201 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I-kSmWLc6vYC&q=Allan%20Octavian%20Hume&pg=PA201 |access-date=25 May 2011}}</ref> The Manipur Bush Rat was named in his honour.<ref name="Thomas, 1886"/> The collection has two male and two female specimens, recorded to be collected on 23 March 1881 from "Moirang" (in Manipur),<ref name="Thomas, 1886"/> the type locality for this species.<ref name="Musser & Carleton (2005)"/>

==Description==
The specimen has been described by Thomas (1886) as:<ref name="Thomas, 1886"/>
{{Quote box
|title =
|quote =
General colour above exceedingly like that of ''Golunda ellioti'', Gr., viz. coarsely grizzled grey, lightest on the head and graduallv turning to deep rufous on the rump, the tips of the great majoritv of
the hairs being white or yellowish white on the head and fore quarters, and gradually becoming rich rufous on the hind quarters, their bases in all cases deep slaty -blue. The other hairs are black throughout, and form the black element in the general grizzling.
Sides like the forequarters. Belly yellow or orange, mixed with the slate of the haii -bases; no black-tipped hairs below. The inner sides of the thighs and all round the base of the tail rich rufous.
The fur throughout is soft, and unmixed with flattened or spinous bristles.
Feet grizzled yellowish white. Ears thinly covered outside with black hairs, and inside with black and yellow or red ones; an indistinct tuft of orange-tipped hairs iu front of the basal notch.
Tail well haired, but not pencilled, markedly bicolor, the hairs black above and white below, but the scales, even of the lower side, are uniformly brown.
Ears large and evenly rounded, with a small projection in the middle of their inner margins; laid forward they reacli to the posterior corner of the eye. Tail about as long as the body without the head.
Fifth front toe unusually short, its claw barely reaching to the bottom of the division between the 2nd and 3rd toes, giving the foot, at first sight, the appearance of being only provided with three toes. Fifth hind toe reaching just to the base of the fourth.
Foot-pads 5-6. Mammae 8, 2 pectoral and 2 inguinal pairs.}}
{{Clear}}

The head and body length of the largest specimen, a female, was {{convert|125|mm|in}} long while the tail is {{convert|106|mm|in}} long.<ref name="Thomas, 1886"/> Elsewhere, the head and body length has been given as head and body length as {{convert|95|to|140|mm|in}}, the tail length as {{convert|195|to|40|mm|in}}. The weight has been recorded as ranging from {{convert|41|to|77|g|oz}}.<ref name="Walker (1999)">{{cite book |title=Walker's mammals of the world, Volume 1 |last=Nowak |first=Ronald M. |year=1999 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-0-8018-5789-8 |page=1565 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7W-DGRILSBoC |access-date=22 May 2011}}</ref>

==Conservation status==
The species has been given conservation status of "Endangered - B1ab(iii)+2ab(iii)" in [[IUCN Red List]] ver 3.1. The criteria for this assessment include:<ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021" />
* Limited area of occurrence (less than {{convert|500|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}).
* Limited geographical extent of range (less than {{convert|5000|km|mi|abbr=on}}).
* Less than five areas from which it is reported.
* Continuing decline in extent and degradation of habitat.

The principal threats to this species are assessed to be loss of and degradation of habitat, fragmentation, and encroachment. Besides these, hunting and fire are also considered to be contributing causes.<ref name="Molur et al (2005)"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Murinae (Hadromys–Maxomys)}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q301829}}

[[Category:Rats of Asia]]
[[Category:Hadromys]]
[[Category:Endemic fauna of India]]
[[Category:Rodents of India]]
[[Category:Environment of Manipur]]
[[Category:Endangered fauna of Asia]]
[[Category:Mammals described in 1886]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas]]
[[Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot]]

Manipur bush rat - Revision history

KraigYee56 at 13:32, 2 October 2025