The Chingawa forest rat (''Chingawaemys rarus'') is a species of

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are na ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

. It is the only member of the

monotypic genus In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

''Chingawaemys''. It was only described in 2021, when it was discovered during a broad phylogenetic analysis of the tribe

Praomyini Praomyini is a tribe of muroid rodents in the subfamily Murinae. Species in this tribe are found mostly throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, but one species (''Mastomys erythroleucus'') is found in North Africa, and another ('' Ochromyscus yemeni'') is ...

. It is thought to have diverged from its closest relatives over 6 million years ago, during the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are rainforests that occur in areas of tropical rainforest climate in which there is no dry season – all months have an average precipitation of at least 60 mm – and may also be referred to as ''lowland equatori ...

present in Ethiopia, in an area called Chingawa near the border with

South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the C ...

. It is only known from one specimen collected 15 years prior to description, and researchers have been unable to regain access the type locality of the specimen. The genus is at major risk of extinction due to mass

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...

in the area for

coffee production Coffee production is the industrial process of converting the raw fruit of the coffee plant into the finished coffee. The coffee cherry has the fruit or pulp removed leaving the seed or bean which is then dried. While all green coffee is proces ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q108391989 Old World rats and mice Endemic fauna of Ethiopia Mammals described in 2021