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Edwards’s Long-tailed Giant Rat

Leopoldamys edwardsi

French: Rat de Milne-Edwards / German: Edwards-Langschwanz-Riesenratte / Spanish: Rata gigante de cola larga de Edwards

Other common names: Edwards's Leopoldamys, Edwards's Rat

Taxonomy. Mus edwardsi Thomas, 1882,

“Western Fokien,”

probably Kuatun, China.

Leopoldamys edwards: formerly included

in L. cihatus and L. malleti, both currently

recognized as distinct species. Phylogenetic data places L. edwards: in the edwards: genetic cluster along with L. herberti and sister to the sabanus genetic cluster. Its distribution was also restricted to just China and northern Vietnam,with populations from the rest of Indomalaysia being L. herberti, which was split form L. sabanus . Leopoldamys edwards: probably still represents multiple species throughoutits distribution, especially because it contains considerable genetic and morphological variation. A more complete taxonomic revision is needed. The Hainan population of L. edwards: might represent a distinct subspecies or even species. It is known from fossil remains at Cave of Mulan Mountain, Chongzuo, Guangxi, China along with human remains from the Late Pleistocene. Monotypic.

Distribution. NE India, N Myanmar, C & S China, including Hainan I, and N Vietnam, including Cat Ba I.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 210-290 mm, tail 264-315 mm, ear 28-32 mm, hindfoot 42-58 mm; weight 230-480 g. Edwards’s Long-tailed Giant Ratis large and very similar to the darker colored Herbert's Long-tailed Giant Rat (L. herberti). Pelage is short, sleek, soft, with flexible spines mixed throughout. Dorsum is brown to grayish brown, being darker brown over spine and lighter on sides, with longer guard hairs mixed throughout. Venter is creamy white and sharply demarcated from dorsum. Feet are long and grayish brown dorsally, with white digits. Ears are long, rubbery, naked, and dark brown; vibrissae are long. Tail is long (c.116% of head-body length) and indistinctly bicolored, being dark brown above and creamy white below, occasionally with white tip. There are four pairs of mammae: one pectoral, one post-axillary, and two inguinal pairs. Skull has broader zygomatic plate, considerably shorter postpalatal length, smaller bullae, and very narrow mesopterygoid fossa than on Herbert's Longtailed Giant Rat. Gastrointestinal helminths Raillietina, Hymenolepis diminuta, Syphacia mupris, and Trichostrongyliidae have been recorded in Edwards’s Long-tailed Giant Rat. Diploid number is 2n = 42, FN = 56 or 62.

Habitat. Primary and secondary closed canopy moist lowland evergreen and montane forest from sea level to elevations of ¢.1400 m. Edwards’s Long-tailed Giant Rat can handle habitat degradation and survives at forest edges and in already disturbed habitats. Other species of Leopoldamys live in more tropical, mountainous regions.

Food and Feeding. Edwards’s Long-tailed Giant Ratopportunistically eats fruits, seeds, and invertebrates. Hoarding is common and generally involves scattering seeds of various trees and dispersing them randomly through an open area, or lardering seeds in a burrow that is also used for nesting. As seed abundance increases, individuals scatterhoard more often. A recent study involving seeds of cork oak ( Quercus variabilis, Fagaceae) that were infected by weevil larvae found that seeds from which weevil had not yet emerged and uninfected seeds were selected most often, which help propagate cork oak while controlling the pest from spreading to uninfected seeds. Given the option between two seeds ( Camellia oleifera, Theaceae, with short handling time and Lithocarpus harlandi, Fagaceae, with longer handling time) and two burrow types (aboveground and underground), Edwards’s Long-tailed Giant Rats scatterhoarded or consumed C. oleifera more often than lardering them, while they lardered or consumed L. harlandii more often than they scatterhoarded them. If they only had aboveground burrows available, they scatterhoarded more seeds in general, but if they only had underground burrows available, they lardered more seeds. A study examining effects of different characteristics of seeds from various species ( Lithocarpus harlandii, Quercus vaniabilis, Q. serrata, Cyclobalanopsis glauca, and Castanopsis fargesii, all Fagaceae and C. oleifera) showed that high fat or large seeds were harvested more quickly than small or medium seeds with high tannin concentrations and that high fat or large seeds were also more likely to be removed than small or medium seeds withhigh tannin concentration. This indicated that the species avoids tannin and maximizes nutritional value.

Breeding. Edwards’s Long-tailed Giant Rat probably makes nests out of leaves within burrows. Nests are mostly on the ground, usually in a burrow, although there are records of Edwards’s Long-tailed Giant Rats nesting aboveground in tree cavities or logs.

Activity patterns. Edwards’s [Long-tailed Giant Rat is nocturnal, spending days nesting in burrows and nights foraging. It is predominantly terrestrial, foraging for seeds and traveling across the ground at night, although it will climb trees to reach food.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. Edwards’s Long-tailed Giant Rat has a wide distribution and presumably large and stable overall population. It is found in many protected areas. It is considered a pestspecies under Schedule V of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

Bibliography. Aplin, Lunde & Molur (2016a), Badenhorst et al. (2011), Balakirev, Abramov & Rozhnov (2013), Chaisiri et al. (2012), Chang Gang & Zhang Zhibin (2011), Chang Gang et al. (2010), Cheng Jinrui & Zhang Hongmao (2011), Cosson et al. (2015), Francis (2008), Latinne, Chaval et al. (2013), Latinne, Waengsothorn et al. (2013), Musser (1981a), Musser & Carleton (2005), Smith & Yan Xie (2008), Wang Yuan et al. (2010), Xiao Zhishu et al. (2006).