''Chiropodomys'' (or pencil-tailed tree mice) is a genus of Old World rats and mice native to

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

and northeast

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

. They are tree-dwelling, very small mice, mostly found in

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are rainforests that occur in areas of tropical rainforest climate in which there is no dry season – all months have an average precipitation of at least 60 mm – and may also be referred to as ''lowland equatori ...

. In total six extant species have been identified, but only one of these, '' Chiropodomys gliroides'', is common and widely distributed, and has been extensively studied.

Species

Genus ''Chiropodomys'' — pencil-tailed tree mice: * Palawan pencil-tailed tree mouse, ''Chiropodomys calamianensis'' Taylor, 1934,

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 ...

and neighboring islands * Indomalayan pencil-tailed tree mouse, ''Chiropodomys gliroides'' Blyth, 1856, northeast

, southeastern China, mainland Southeast Asia, Sumatra,

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

* Koopman's pencil-tailed tree mouse, ''Chiropodomys karlkoopmani'' Musser, 1979, Mentawai Islands *

Large pencil-tailed tree mouse The large pencil-tailed tree mouse or greater pencil-tailed tree mouse (''Chiropodomys major'') is a species of arboreal rodent in the family Muridae. It is endemic to Borneo where it is only known from Sabah and Sarawak (Malaysia), although it ...

, ''Chiropodomys major'' Thomas, 1893,

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the List of islands by area, 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 Isl ...

* Gray-bellied pencil-tailed tree mouse, ''Chiropodomys muroides'' Medway, 1965, Borneo * Small pencil-tailed tree mouse, ''Chiropodomys pusillus'' Thomas, 1893, Borneo * †'' Chiropodomys maximus'',

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

* †''

Chiropodomys primitivus ''Chiropodomys'' (or pencil-tailed tree mice) is a genus of Old World rats and mice native to Southeast Asia and northeast India. They are tree-dwelling, very small mice, mostly found in tropical rainforest. In total six extant species have been ...

'', southern China

Description

Species of ''Chiropodomys'' have a body length of 7 to 12 cm, plus a tail of 9 to 17 cm. They are generally gray or brown on the back and white underneath. The tail is only sparsely covered with hair, but has somewhat more at the end, giving the appearance of a

pencil A pencil () is a writing or drawing implement with a solid pigment core in a protective casing that reduces the risk of core breakage, and keeps it from marking the user's hand. Pencils create marks by physical abrasion (mechanical), abra ...

, thus the genus name. ''Chiropodomys gliroides'' is particularly common in

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...

forest. It is active at night, sleeps during the day in a nest in the bamboo, padded with leaves. It eats exclusively plants. Previously, it was thought that ''Chiropodomys'' were closely related to the genus '' Hapalomys'' (marmoset rats), with both forming a clade with '' Micromys'' and '' Vandeleuria''; however, more recent phylogenetic studies support them being closely allied with the Australasian mice and rats of the tribe Hydromyini, either as a distinct tribe of their own or as a group within Hydromyini.

References

* Ronald M. Nowak: ''Walker's Mammals of the World''. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 * Wells K, Pfeiffer M, Lakim MB & Linsenmair KE (2004) "Arboreal spacing patterns of the Large pencil-tailed tree mouse ''Chiropodomys major'' in a rainforest in Sabah, Malaysia." ''Ecotropica'' 10 : 15-22 * Wells K, Pfeiffer M, Lakim MB & Linsenmair KE (2004) "Use of arboreal and terrestrial space by a small mammal community in a tropical rain forest in Borneo, Malaysia." ''Journal of Biogeography' 31 : 641-652. :''This article is based on a translation of an article from the

German Wikipedia The German Wikipedia (german: Deutschsprachige Wikipedia) is the German-language edition of Wikipedia, a free and publicly editable online encyclopedia. Founded on March 16, 2001, it is the second-oldest Wikipedia (after the English Wikipedia) ...

, retrieved on November 22, 2006. {{Taxonbar, from=Q579868 Chiropodomys Fauna of Southeast Asia Taxa named by Wilhelm Peters