628.

Long-tailed Bandicoot Rat

Nesokia bunnii

French: Nésokia de Bunni / German: Rote Pestratte / Spanish: Rata bandicut de cola larga

Other common names: Bunn's Bandicoot Rat, Bunn's Short-tailed Bandicoot Rat, Long-tailed Nesokia, Red Pest Rat

Taxonomy. Erythronesokia bunnii Khajuria, 1981,

Al-Qurna, Basra Province, southeastern Iraq.

Nesokia is sister to Bandicota and are nested in Rattus phylogenetically, making Rattus paraphyletic. Tarsomys, Limnomys, and Diplothrix are also phylogenetically in Rattus, and the clade is in need of focused revision at the generic level. Nesokia bunnui was originally described as a separate genus, Erythronesokia, because it is morphologically very distinctive from N. indica. Type specimen was destroyed during the Iraq War, and a neotype was recently designated to replace it. Monotypic. Distribution. Tigris and Euphrates river valleys, SE Iraq. Descriptive notes. Head—body 230-260 mm, tail 205-270 mm, ear 18-21 mm, hindfoot 49-58 mm; weight 519 g. The Long-tailed Bandicoot Rat is larger than the Short-tailed Bandicoot Rat (N. indica). Pelage is soft and woolly, interspersed with harsher coarse hair and long black hairs near mid-back. Dorsum is fawn to ocherous red, washed with purple or chestnuton darker individuals. Hairs are basally slate-gray and distally rufous, occasionally with whitish or black tips. Muzzle is drab. Sides arefawn, with gray edge toward venter. Venteris whitish, extending onto cheeks where the same pattern from gray to fawn to dorsal pelage occurs. Feet are large and robust, being light brown and well-furred dorsally. Claws are amber on forefeet and dull brown on hindfeet; pollux is extremely small. Ears are moderately long and brownish, with no hair internally. Tail is ¢.82-104% of head-body length and deep brownish drab, interspersed with visible white hair. Skull is large and robust, similarly to the Short-tailed Bandicoot Rat. Habitat. Marsh and swamp land. Food and Feeding. No information. Breeding. No information. Activity patterns. The Long-tailed Bandicoot Rat is terrestrial, although it isfound in swampy and marshy areas and is probably amphibious. Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information. Status and Conservation. Classified as Endangered on The IUCN Red List. The Longtailed Bandicoot Rat is apparently rare and is known from very few specimens. Marsh and swamp habitats in which it is found were completely destroyed during the Iraq War by draining, war damage, and agricultural expansion. In recent years, flooding from Tigris and Euphrates rivers and high snow fall and melt haveresulted in partial restoration ofits native habitat, although restoration is not a complete. Populations are now probably highly fragmented. Bibliography. Al-Ansari et al. (2012), Al-Robaae & Felten (1990), Khajuria (1981), Krystufek et al. (2017), Musser & Carleton (2005), Richardson & Hussain (2006), Stuart (2008).