Voalavo gymnocaudus, Carleton & Goodman, 1998

Don E. Wilson, Russell A. Mittermeier & Thomas E. Lacher, Jr, 2017, Nesomyidae, Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 7 Rodents II, Barcelona: Lynx Edicions, pp. 156-203 : 189

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.6600357

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6600233

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03993828-FFF4-0F50-FFFD-FAD7C893F55A

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

Voalavo gymnocaudus
status

 

17. View Plate 8: Nesomyidae

Northern Naked-tail Forest Mouse

Voalavo gymnocaudus View in CoL

French: Voalavo a queue nue / German: Nordlicher Voalavo / Spanish: Raton de bosque de cola desnuda septentrional

Other common names: Naked-tailed Voalavo, Northern Voalavo

Taxonomy. Voalavo gymnocaudus Carleton & Goodman, 1998, View in CoL

“ Madagascar, Province d’Antsiranana, Réserve Spéciale d’Anjanaharibe-Sud , 12.2 km WSW of Befingitra , 1950 m, 14°44.8’S, 40°26.0’E ” GoogleMaps

This species is monotypic.

Distribution. Endemic to N Madagascar. View Figure

Descriptive notes. Head-body 80-90 mm, tail 120-129 mm; weight 17-25-5 g. Fur of the Northern Naked-tail Forest Mouse is soft and relatively thick, with silky texture. Dorsum is medium gray, flanks and neck are brownish, and venter is off-white, mixed with light gray. Tail is largely naked and bicolored, gray dorsally and white ventrally. Tarsi are brownish gray, and feet and toes are completely white.

Habitat. Eastern humid montane forest at elevations of 1225-1950 m. The Northern Naked-tail Forest Mouse is only known from mountains surrounding the Andapa Basin.

Food and Feeding. No information.

Breeding. Northern Naked-tail Forest Mice have a gland on their upper chest that produces a distinct odor and is most developed in reproductive males. Females probably give birth at the end of the dry season in late August through September. They have three pairs of mammae, and litters have up to two young.

Activity patterns. The Northern Naked-tail Forest Mouse is nocturnal and scansorial. It probably lives in ground burrows and forages in an arboreal manner. It is capable of moving across very thin lianas, no larger than the width of a pencil.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. The Northern Naked-tail Forest Mouse is strictly forest-dwelling and is known from a limited area of eastern montane forest in northern Madagascar. Currently, degradation ofits remaining forested habitat by humans is relatively limited.

Bibliography. Carleton & Goodman (1998, 2000), Goodman et al. (2013), Soarimalala & Goodman (2011).

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Rodentia

Family

Nesomyidae

Genus

Voalavo

Loc

Voalavo gymnocaudus

Don E. Wilson, Russell A. Mittermeier & Thomas E. Lacher, Jr 2017
2017
Loc

Voalavo gymnocaudus

Carleton & Goodman 1998
1998
GBIF Dataset (for parent article) Darwin Core Archive (for parent article) View in SIBiLS Plain XML RDF