752.

Dollman’s Sulawesi Spiny Rat

Maxomys dollmani

French: Maxomys de Dollman / German: Dollman-Rajah-Ratte / Spanish: Rata espinosa de Célebes de Dollman

Other common names: Dollman’s Sulawesi Maxomys, Dollman’s Spiny Rat

Taxonomy. Rattus hellwaldii dollmani Ellerman, 1941,

Rantekaroa, 6000 ft (= 1829 m), Quarles Mountains, central Sulawesi, Indonesia.

The south-eastern Sulawesi population from the Pegunungan Mekkonga region is almost certainly an undescribed species that is included here under M. dollmana. Two other undescribed species from Danau Lindu and Gunung Rorekatimbo have been confirmed by genetic data to be sister to a clade containingdollmani and M. hellwaldii, which in turn 1s sister to Crunomys . Monotypic.

Distribution. SC & SE Sulawesi (Quarles Range and Mekkonga Mts).

Descriptive notes. Head-body 145-212 mm, tail 180-265 mm, ear 21-26 mm, hindfoot 37-49 mm; weight 210-165 g. Dollman’s Sulawesi Spiny Rat is medium-sized, with short, soft, and dense pelage without spines and softer, longer, and denser than on Hellwald’s Sulawesi Spiny Rat ( M. hellwaldii). Dorsum is burnished dark orangish brown, with mostly dark gray hair and brownish orange tips; it is darkest on back and top of head, which are dark brown suffused with dark gray. Venter is gray frosted with white, occasionally with patches of white inguinally or thoracically. Feet are whitish or silver gray dorsally, with short white hairs. Ears are rounded;vibrissae are long and dark. Tail is unusually long for the genus (122% of head-body length), sparsely haired (longer hairs than on Hellwald’s Sulawesi Spiny Rat), and grayish brown above and unpigmented below and for the distal one-third. Skull is smaller, more delicately built, and more rounded than on Hellwald’s Sulawesi Spiny Rat. There are three pairs of mammae: one postaxial, one abdominal, and one inguinal.

Habitat. [.ow evergreen and low montane rainforest at elevations up to ¢.1830 m.

Food and Feeding. Dollman’s Sulawesi Spiny Rat probablyeats fruits, arthropods, snails, earthworms, and small vertebrates.

Breeding. No information.

Activity patterns. Dollman’s Sulawesi Spiny Ratis nocturnal, terrestrial, and somewhat scansorial.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Data Deficient on The IUCN Red List. Habitat loss from shifting agriculture at high elevations and the small and scattered distribution of Dollman’s Sulawesi Spiny Rat are major threats. Additional research is needed to fully understand its natural history, taxonomy, and threats.

Bibliography. Achmadi et al. (2013), Clayton (2016n), Musser (1969¢, 1991, 2014), Musser & Carleton (2005), Musser & Holden (1991), Musser et al. (1979), Steppan & Schenk (2017).