- Researchers have discovered a species of rodent in the mountainous interior of Sulawesi, a Indonesian island known for its high rates of endemism.
- The new species, dubbed Hyorhinomys stuempke, is noted for its especially long urogenital hairs.
- Hyorhinomys stuempkei was captured in an overnight trap on Sulawesi’s Mount Dako in early 2013.
Researchers have discovered a species of rodent in the mountainous interior of Sulawesi, a Indonesian island known for its high rates of endemism.
The new species, dubbed Hyorhinomys stuempkei, is noted for its especially long urogenital hairs — better known as pubic hair — according to a description published in the Journal of Mammalogy. The hog-nosed shrew rat averages 45 centimeters (1.5 feet) in length and weighs about 250 grams (half a pound). Beyond its unusual urogenital hairs, the species is characterized by “extremely large” ears and its “large, flat, pink” nose.
Hyorhinomys stuempkei was captured in an overnight trap on Sulawesi’s Mount Dako in early 2013 by a team led by Museum Victoria’s Kevin Rowe, a mammalogist who has discovered other rats in Sulawesi, including the two-toothed Paucidentomys vermidax and Waiomys mamasae, a carnivorous water rat. There are now 8 species of shrew rat described in Sulawesi.
CITATION: Jacob A. Esselstyn, Sam S. Achmadi, Heru Handika, Kevin C. Rowe. A hog-nosed shrew rat (Rodentia: muridae) from Sulawesi Island, Indonesia. Journal of Mammalogy. Volume 96, Issue 5 Pp. 895-907. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyv093 895-907 First published online: 29 September 2015