735.

Paulina’s Limestone Rat

Saxatilomys paulinae

French: Rat de Jenkins / German: Paulina-Karstratte / Spanish: Rata de caliza de Paulina

Taxonomy. Saxatilomys paulinae Musser et al., 2005,

“Ban (5 village) Mauang and Ban Doy (178339150N/1048499300E), Thakhet District, on the southwest margin of the Khammouan Limestone National Biodiversity Conservation Area (178269-188059N/1048259-1058109E), Lao PDR, approximately 18 km north of the town of Thakhek.”

Saxatilomys is phylogenetically, morphologically and ecologically closest to Tonkinomys, and they are sister to the rest of the Dacnomys division within Rattini . Monotypic.

Distribution. C Laos (Khammouan Limestone National Biodiversity Conservation Area) and C Vietnam (Quang Binh Province).

Descriptive notes. Head-body 157-164 mm,tail 180-203 mm, ear 24-25 mm, hindfoot 29-30 mm; weight 110-130 g. Paulina’s Limestone Rat is medium-sized, with short, dense, and semi-spinous pelage (less spiny on side). Dorsum is dark gray-black, with slightly burnished highlights, being darker gray on head, shoulders,sides, and limbs; dorsal pelage is indistinctly demarcated from ventral pelage. Guard hairs are pale gray at bases and tipped with black or brown. Venteris dark frosted gray and soft. Eyes are relatively small; ears are relatively large, oval, and grayish brown, covered sparsely with small brown hair. Vibrissae are fairly long and dark brown or unpigmented. Tail is slim, tapered, 113-129% of head-body length, dark brown dorsally, and unpigmented ventrally, with hair length increasing near tip. Claws are pale brown on forefeet, unpigmented on hindfeet, moderately curved, and long. Dorsal part of feet is brownish and has six large bulbous pads on bottom. Skull is elongated, with narrow rostrum and wide braincase. Mites Afrolistrophoroides saxatilomys and Listrophoroides oconnori have been recorded on Paulina’s Limestone Rat. There are four pairs of mammae: one pectoral, one post-axillary, and two inguinal.

Habitat. Rocky habitats covered in degraded deciduous forest mixed with scrub and bamboo and complex karst towers under limestone humid evergreen forest at elevations of 295-315 m.

Food and Feeding. Paulina’s Limestone Rat is probably insectivorous.

Breeding. No information.

Activity patterns. Paulina’s Limestone Rat is nocturnal.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Data Deficient on The IUCN Red List. Hunting in Vietnam is the only major threat to Paulina’s Limestone Rat. Limestone karsts are relatively safe from large scale destruction, and it occurs in Khammouan Limestone National Biodiversity Conservation Area in Laos. Additional research is needed to understand its natural history and potential conservation threats.

Bibliography. Balakirev, Abramov et al. (2012), Balakirev, Aniskin et al. (2013), Francis (2008), Kennerley & Correia (2016), Musseret al. (2005), Nguyen Nghia Xuan et al. (2015), Pagés et al. (2016).