635.

Mackenzie's White-toothed Rat

Berylmys mackenziei

French: Rat de Mackenzie / German: Mackenzie-Weif 3zahnratte / Spanish: Rata de dientes blancos de Mackenzie

Other common names: Kenneth's \White-toothed Rat, Mackenzie's Berylmys, Mackenzie's Rat

Taxonomy. Epimys mackenziei Thomas, 1916,

“50 miles [= 80 km] west of Kindat, [Chin Hills, Burma,] 5,000’ [= 1524 m].” Polytypic, but number, diagnoses, and ranges of subspecies requirereview.

Distribution. NE India, NW & SE Myanmar, China (Sichuan), and S Vietnam.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 155- 243 mm, tail 150-255 mm, ear 25-35 mm, hindfoot 44-54 mm; weight 120-140 g. Mackenzie’s White-toothed Rat is large and very similar to Bowers’s White-toothed Rat (B. bowersit). Its pelage is thicker and softer to the touch and dark or iron gray; tail is equal to or slightly longer than headbody length; white on tip of tail is more developed than on Bowers’s White-toothed Rat; Mackenzie's White-toothed Rat 1s smaller than Bowers’s White-toothed Rat; incisive foramina are anterior to M'; palatal bridge is anterior or at the level of M?; zygomatic plate is straighter on Mackenzie's White-toothed Rat compared with the sloping one on Bowers’s White-toothed Rat; cusp t3 on M? is present in one-half of the specimens in Mackenzie's White-toothed Rat and is present on one-quarter of the specimens on M”; low temporal ridge is present on dorso-lateral part of braincase (reduced in Bowers’s White-toothed Rat); frequency of antero-labial cusps is small on M,. There are ten pairs of mammae: one pectoral, two post-axillaries, and two inguinal pairs.

Habitat. Subtropical montane evergreen and moist deciduous at elevations of 1000-1850 m.

Food and Feeding. No information.

Breeding. No information.

Activity patterns. Mackenzie's White-toothed Rat is nocturnal, with a fossorial lifestyle.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Data Deficient on The IUCN Red List. Very little is known about Mackenzie’s White-toothed Rat, and more taxonomic and ecological studies are required. Major threats related to human activities should be assessed.

Bibliography. Agrawal (2000), Molur et al. (2005), Musser & Newcomb (1983).