''Hyorhinomys stuempkei'', the hog-nosed shrew rat or Sulawesi snouter, is a species of rodent in the family

Muridae The Muridae, or murids, are the largest family of rodents and of mammals, containing approximately 1,383 species, including many species of mice, rats, and gerbils found naturally throughout Eurasia, Africa, and Australia. The name Muridae come ...

, more specifically in the subfamily Murinae, endemic to

Sulawesi Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Ar ...

, Indonesia. This species was discovered in 2015 by Jacob A. Esselstyn and his team, Anang S. Achmadi, Heru Handika, and Kevin C. Rowe. Esselstyn proposed "Sulawesi snouter" as a common name for it. The word "snouter" references the spoof biological text '' The Snouters: Form and Life of the Rhinogrades'', authored by the German zoologist

Gerolf Steiner Gerolf Steiner (22 March 1908 – 14 August 2009) was a German zoologist. Life and career Steiner was born in Strasbourg, Alsace in March 1908. He earned his doctorate in 1931 at the University of Heidelberg. He completed his habilitation in 1942 ...

as the fictional naturalist "Harald Stümpke". ''H. stuempkei'' pays homage to this fictional individual. It is known only from Mount Dako in

Tolitoli Regency Tolitoli Regency is a regency of Central Sulawesi Province of Indonesia. It covers an area of 4,079.77 km2 and had a population of 211,296 at the 2010 Census and 225,154 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2021 was 226,796, com ...

, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. The species has particularly long incisors. Unusually, it lacks the

coronoid process The Coronoid process (from Greek , "like a crown") can refer to: * The coronoid process of the mandible, part of the ramus mandibulae of the mandible * The coronoid process of the ulna The coronoid process of the ulna is a triangular process proj ...

jaw muscle attachment point, presumably because its diet of earthworms and beetle larvae does not require forceful chewing. Its morphological distinctions from other shrew rats, along with phylogenetic analysis, led to it being placed in the new genus ''Hyorhinomys'' as the only species.

References

Old World rats and mice Endemic fauna of Indonesia Rodents of Sulawesi Mammals described in 2015 {{murinae-stub