The bastard big-footed mouse (''Macrotarsomys bastardi'') 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 is found only in

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 ...

. ''Macrotarsomys bastardi'' is the smallest-bodied of the three species recognized within the genus '' Macrotarsomys''. Two subspecies have been recognized (''M. b. occidentalis'' and ''M. b. bastardi'') however 2004 studies did not find consistent differences between the subspecies and recommended "subspecific epithets be abandoned for this species".

Habitat

This is a terrestrial species, found primarily in xeric habitats such as dry deciduous forests in the northwest and spiny forests in the south.

References

*Musser, G. G. and M. D. Carleton. 2005. Superfamily Muroidea. pp. 894–1531 ''in'' Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. Macrotarsomys Mammals described in 1898 Mammals of Madagascar Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{muroid-stub