Christine's margareta rat (''Margaretamys christinae'') is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

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 Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

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 ...

. It is found only in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

on the island of

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 ...

, in a mountainous part of the southeastern peninsula. It was first discovered by an expedition led by Alessio Mortelliti in 2011.

Taxonomy

Christine's margareta rat belongs to the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

Margaretamys ''Margaretamys'' is a genus of rodent in the family Muridae endemic to the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. Up until 1973, it was known from only few examples of one species. Then Guy G. Musser collected more examples of this species during his ...

'' in the

Old World rats and mice The Old World rats and mice, part of the subfamily Murinae in the family Muridae, comprise at least 519 species. Members of this subfamily are called murines. In terms of species richness, this subfamily is larger than all mammal families exc ...

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

Murinae The Old World rats and mice, part of the subfamily Murinae in the family Muridae, comprise at least 519 species. Members of this subfamily are called murines. In terms of species richness, this subfamily is larger than all mammal families excep ...

of the

. It was discovered in 2011 and was first described in 2012 by Alessio Mortelliti, Riccardo Castiglia, Giovanni Amori, Ibnu Maryanto and Guy G. Musser. Mortelliti, from the

Sapienza University of Rome The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a Public university, public research university l ...

, who discovered the new species, named it after Christina Thwaites, another member of the expedition.

Description

Christine's margareta rat grows to a head-and-body length of about with a tail length of . The muzzle is greyish white, the whiskers are long and the ears are large, brown and sparsely haired. The fur is long, soft and dense and the dorsal colouring is dark reddish brown. The underparts are greyish yellow, except the chin and throat, which are greyish white. The legs are brown while the fingers and toes are white. The tail is greyish brown, with the last third white. The scales on the tail each bear three hairs, and these increase in length towards the tip, where they form a terminal tuft. This species is distinguished from other members of its genus found on

by its small size, its soft reddish-brown upper parts, greyish-buff underparts and long, bicoloured tail with a tufted tip.

Ecology

Although the ecology of this species has not been studied, it is likely to be similar to the other three species of ''

'' which are also endemic to Sulawesi. They are

nocturnal Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed sens ...

and live on the ground or in the forest understory (Christine's margareta rat was trapped off the ground). They feed largely on fruit and insects and have litters of one or two young.

Status

Christine's margareta rat is known from a single specimen collected in the Mekongga mountain range in the rainforest at an altitude of about . Much of Sulawesi has been logged for timber and to make way for cacao plantations, and the locality of capture of the new species was in secondary forest. The forested mountains are separated by deep valleys which would be unlikely to provide suitable habitat. It seems likely that this species exists in a number of separate subpopulations and occupies a total area of less than . Its conservation status is provisionally assessed as being "

Endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15057191 Margaretamys Rodents of Sulawesi Mammals described in 2012