Daniel's tufted-tailed rat (''Eliurus danieli'') 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 ...

in the family

Nesomyidae The Nesomyidae are a family of African rodents in the large and complex superfamily Muroidea. It includes several subfamilies, all of which are native to either continental Africa or to Madagascar. Included in this family are Malagasy rodents, ...

. It was discovered in 2003 in the Parc National de l’Isalo in south-central

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

.Carleton, M.D., and S.M. Goodman. 2007. A New Species of the ''Eliurus majori'' Complex (Rodentia: Muroidea: Nesomyidae) from South-central Madagascar, with Remarks on Emergent Species Groupings in the Genus ''Eliurus''. ''American Museum Novitates'' 3547: 1–21

/ref> It is named for Daniel Rakotondravony, professor of animal biology at the

University of Antananarivo University of Antananarivo (french: Université d'Antananarivo) is the primary public university of Madagascar, located in the capital Antananarivo. History The university traces its founding to 16 December 1955 and the formation of the Instit ...

, Madagascar. Daniel's tufted-tailed rat first became known in 1995, when a specimen was found to belong to the ''majori-penicillatus'' complex. Molecular data suggested that Major's tufted-tailed rat (''Eliurus majori'') was a close relative; study of two more animals found in 2002 indicated that the two are different species.

Description

The head-and-body length of Daniel's tufted-tailed rat is about and the tail is a further . The fine soft hairs on the dorsal (upper) surface of the body are about long, and are grey, tipped with buff. The guard hairs are dark brown to black and slightly longer than the cover hairs. The general dorsal colour of the animal is a brownish grey, with a plain grey face, forehead and limbs. There is a sharp line separating the upper parts from the underparts. and the latter are buffish white. The feet are white and there is a tuft of white hairs at the base of each claw. The basal third of the tail is semi-naked, the central third is scantily clad with short black hairs, and the distal third has a tuft of bright white hairs which are up to in length. A male specimen found in December 2002 was found to have scrotal

testes A testicle or testis (plural testes) is the male reproductive gland or gonad in all bilaterians, including humans. It is homologous to the female ovary. The functions of the testes are to produce both sperm and androgens, primarily testoster ...

with convoluted

epididymis The epididymis (; plural: epididymides or ) is a tube that connects a testicle to a vas deferens in the male reproductive system. It is a single, narrow, tightly-coiled tube in adult humans, in length. It serves as an interconnection between the ...

. This species has a notably rounded braincase, certainly in comparison with the Tsingy tufted-tailed rat (''Eliurus antsingy'').

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2427866 Mammals described in 2007 Taxa named by Michael D. Carleton Mammals of Madagascar Eliurus