378.

Common Soft-furred Rat

Millardia meltada

French: Rat de Gray / German: Gemeine Weichfellratte / Spanish: Rata de pelaje suave comun

Other common names: Common Metad, Soft-furred Field Rat, Soft-furred Metad, Soft-furred Rat

Taxonomy. Golunda meltada Gray, 1837,

“Bombay,” India .

Previously placed in Mus . Two subspecies were recognized byJ. R. Ellerman in 1961, but they were merged by V. C. Agrawal in 2000. No genetic information is available on this taxon apart from chromosomal data. Monotypic.

Distribution. E Pakistan, India, S Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 107- 154 mm, tail 92-136 mm, ear 18-24 mm, hindfoot 21-29 mm. No specific data are available for body weight. This soft-furred medium-sized rat has a tail that is shorter than head and body length and is bicolored. The gray-brown dorsal pelage contrasts with the grayish-white ventral zone. Females bear four pairs of mammae. Chromosomes 2n = 50, FN = 57.

Habitat. Cultivated fields, grassland, riverbanks, and irrigation canals.

Food and Feeding. Details of the diet in India were published by M. A. Beg and colleagues in 1994. Stomach contents showed it to be herbivorous, recorded items including alfalfa, Trifolium, Chenopodium, and canes, as well as leaves, stems, and seeds of other cultivated plants.

Breeding. In the Punjab region, reproduction is busiest at the times of the rice and wheat harvests, with 83% of females found pregnant during the rice harvest in October and 100% during the wheat harvest in April. Litter size reached six on average. Compared to two other rodents living in the same cultivated fields, Millardia females seem to make a greater investment to produce a high number of offspring per year (76-3 young per female per year) during a short life span (0-9 months). In Rajasthan, the species breeds during the whole year, with a peak from March to September;litter size varies from four to ten (average 5-0). Gestation period is 21 days.

Activity patterns. Common Soft-furred Rats are nocturnal, terrestrial, and fossorial. They spend the day in their very simply built burrows, or in rock crevices, or in natural cracks in the soil. Burrows rarely exceed 50 cm in depth, are simple, and their entrance is never plugged with earth.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. Common Soft-furred Rats are not colonial but 2-3 individuals may coexist in neighboring burrows.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. The Common Soft-furred Rat is considered a major agricultural pest.

Bibliography. Agrawal (2000), Beg et al. (1994), Ellerman (1961), Lathiya et al. (2003), Prakash & Singh (1997 1999), Roberts (1977, 1997).