Template:Speciesbox 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.[1] These are: Angarakhata in Kamrup district (Assam), Bishnupur, Imphal, Senapati and Karong (specimen FMNH 76562) in Manipur.[2]
Originally thought to occur in Yunnan in China also, the Chinese animals have been reclassified as Hadromys yunnanensis Yang & Wang 1987.[1][3] 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.[4] 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.[2] These findings indicate that Hadromys humei is probably a "relict" species.[3]
The Manipur bush rat occurs at medium altitudes from Template:Convert above sea level.[1] It inhabits tropical evergreen, moist deciduous and evergreen forests and also found in secondary forests in northeastern India.[5]
Discovery
The murid was described by Oldfield Thomas in 1886 from specimens in the Manipur collection of Allan Octavian Hume,[6] which was donated to the British Museum (Natural History) after Hume's life's work in ornithological notes were sold by a servant as waste paper.[7][8] The Manipur Bush Rat was named in his honour.[6] The collection has two male and two female specimens, recorded to be collected on 23 March 1881 from "Moirang" (in Manipur),[6] the type locality for this species.[3]
Description
The specimen has been described by Thomas (1886) as:[6] Template:Quote box Template:Clear
The head and body length of the largest specimen, a female, was Template:Convert long while the tail is Template:Convert long.[6] Elsewhere, the head and body length has been given as head and body length as Template:Convert, the tail length as Template:Convert. The weight has been recorded as ranging from Template:Convert.[9]
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:[1]
- Limited area of occurrence (less than Template:Convert).
- Limited geographical extent of range (less than Template:Convert).
- 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.[5]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namediucn status 12 November 2021 - ↑ 2.0 2.1 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. American Museum Novitates({Template:Year).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Mammal Species of the World - a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (Volume 1){{#if:Musser|, Musser}. Johns Hopkins University Press(2005). ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0
- ↑ Occurrence of Hadromys humei (Rodentia: Muridae) during the Pleistocene in Thailand. Journal of Mammalogy({Template:Year).
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Status of South Asian Non-volant Small Mammals: Conservation Assessment and Management Plan (C.A.M.P.) Workshop Report.{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Zoo Outreach Organisation / Captive Breeding Specialist Group -South Asia(2005). ISBN 81-88722-11-1
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 On the Mammals presented by Allan O. Hume, Esq.. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London({Template:Year).
- ↑ Petronia: Fifty Years of Post-Independence Ornithology in India{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. BNHS, Bombay & Oxford University Press, New Delhi(2003)
- ↑ The Eponym Dictionary of Mammals{{#if:Beolens|, Beolens}. Johns Hopkins University Press(2009). ISBN 978-0-8018-9304-9
- ↑ Walker's mammals of the world, Volume 1{{#if:Nowak|, Nowak}. JHU Press(1999). ISBN 978-0-8018-5789-8