The Rajah spiny rat (''Maxomys rajah'') also known as the brown spiny rat is endemic to Thailand and Malaysia, Sumatra,

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

, and adjacent islands (Payne'' et al.'', 1985).

Distribution and ecology

Corbet and Hill (1992) mention that ''Maxomys'' rats are often the most common rodent in the Southeast Asian tropical forest, from most of the Malay Archipelago to Sulawesi,

Palawan Palawan (), officially the Province of Palawan ( cyo, Probinsya i'ang Palawan; tl, Lalawigan ng Palawan), is an archipelagic province of the Philippines that is located in the region of Mimaropa. It is the largest province in the country in t ...

and

. This species can be found in

primary forest An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological feature ...

and logged-over forest. According to Payne ''et al.'' (1985) this species lives in primary or secondary forest and tends to favour sandy and lowland sites. This terrestrial species is mostly active on the ground but occasionally climbs into the upper canopy. Its tend to live separately from other rats. ''M.rajah'' is a common species but Yasuda ''et al.'' (2000) reported that very little is known about the ecological features of ''Maxomys'' rats.

Morphology

''M. rajah'' is medium in size where the upperparts are brown, darker in the midline, with numerous stiff gray-brown spines. The underparts are white with many short, white spines, and usually with a dark brown streak along the middle in adults, but never with an orange throat patch. The white color of the underparts extend down in a narrow line to the feet. Above the tail is brown, pale below and thinly haired. Usually, the range of the measurement of ''M. rajah'' are HB 138.1-218, T 142-210, T/HB = 102.9-109.3%, HF 33.8-43, E 21.9-22.3, Wt 71-218 g, D 1003/1003=16, M 2+2=8. Skull: gl 40.9-48.6, iob 6.6-7.4, mt 6.9-8.1. The immature Red Spiny Rats, ''M. surifer'' is similar ''M. rajah'' and quite difficult to distinguish. (Payne ''et al.'', 1985).

References

* Corbet, G.B and Hill, J.E.(1992). ''The mammals on the Indomalayan region: a systematic review''. Natural History Museum Publications and Oxford University Press. * Payne, J., Francis, C.M. and Phillipps, K. (1985). ''Field guide to mammals of Borneo''. The Sabah Society with World Wildlife Fund Malaysia. * Yasuda, M., Miura, S. and Hussein, N.A. (2000). Evidence for food hoarding behavior in terrestrial rodents in Pasoh forest reserve, a Malaysian lowland rain forest. ''Journal of Tropical forest Science''. * Shadbolt, A. B and Ragai, R. (2010) Effects of habitat fragmentation on the movement patterns and dispersal ability of the brown spiny rat (Maxomys rajah) in the planted forest zone of Sarawak, Eastern Malaysia. Biodiversity and Conservation 19(2): pp 531 – 541.

External links

Photos at ARKive.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1763546 Rats of Asia Maxomys Rodents of Indonesia Rodents of Malaysia Rodents of Thailand Mammals of Borneo Vulnerable fauna of Asia Mammals described in 1894 Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas Taxonomy articles created by Polbot