632.

Lesser Bandicoot Rat

Bandicota bengalensis

French: Petit Rat-bandicot / German: Kleine Bandikutratte / Spanish: Rata bandicut menor

Other common names: Indian Mole-rat, Sind RiceRat

Taxonomy. Arvicola bengalensis Gray, 1835,

Bengal, India.

Polytypic, but number, diagnoses, and ranges of subspecies require review.

Distribution. N & SE Pakistan, most of India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar. Introduced into Saudi Arabia (Jeddah), Thailand (Phuket I), Malay Peninsula (Penang I), Sumatra, and Java.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 161- 243 mm, tail 112-188 mm, hindfoot 27-

38 mm. The Lesser Bandicoot Rat is the smallest species of Bandicota . Tail is shorter than head-body length and has 10-12 scale rows/cm; dorsal pelage is coarse, with long black and cream buff hairs; there are 10-20 teats (often 14-17 teats); skull is medium-sized; nasal bones are short, and dorsally not extended beyond incisors; posterolateral surface of supraoccipital is highly reduced; upper incisors are procumbent; and posterior cingulum is absent on M' and M*.

Habitat. Mainly human agricultural areas, including plantations, rice paddies, and urban places, and secondary habitats such as mangroves, tropical and subtropical dry deciduous forests, and swamps.

Food and Feeding. The Lesser Bandicoot Rat is omnivorous, probably feeding mainly on plants. It reportedly prefers rice over wheat and opportunistically eats insects and even mollusks and crabs.

Breeding. Estrous cycle of the Lesser Bandicoot Rat lasts 3-5 days; gestation lasts 21-25 days. Females are sexual mature at c.3 months old, and males slightly later. Litters have 1-19 young (mean 6-2 young). In India, breeding season peaks in dry season.

Activity patterns. The Lesser Bandicoot Rat is nocturnal.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. Lesser Bandicoot Rats build complex burrow systems that include several entrances and chambers (12-16); entrances are usually found in agricultural areas, floors and walls of buildings, or gardens. Males move more often than females. They can be very aggressive to each other and when trapped. This agressiveness and other observations indicate potentially solitary behavior of adult males and adult females or females with young. At high densities, however, many individuals were observed in the same burrows.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. The Lesser Bandicoot Rat has a wide distribution and occurs in several protected areas.

Bibliography. Agrawal (2000), Aplin, Brown et al. (2003), Chasen (1936), Corbet & Hill (1992), Kloss (1921), Kock et al. (1990), Musser & Brothers (1994), Musser & Newcomb (1983), Posamentier (1989), Roberts (1997).