''Batomys uragon'' (proposed common name Mount Isarog hairy-tailed rat) is a species of

cloud rat The cloud rats or cloudrunners are a tribe (Phloeomyini) of arboreal and nocturnal herbivorous rodents endemic to the cloud forests of the Philippines. They belong to the family Muridae and include five genera: ''Batomys'' (hairy-tailed rats), ' ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the Philippines. It was first discovered in 1988, and the full description was published in 2015, in the ''

Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington In academia and librarianship, conference proceedings are a collection of academic papers published in the context of an academic conference or workshop. Conference proceedings typically contain the contributions made by researchers at the confere ...

''. It is so far found only on

Luzon Luzon ( , ) is the largest and most populous List of islands in the Philippines, island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the List of islands of the Philippines, Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political ce ...

, the largest island in the Philippines. The first specimen was collected from

Mount Isarog Isarog is an List of active volcanoes in the Philippines, active stratovolcano located in the province of Camarines Sur, Camarines Sur, Philippines, on the island of Luzon. The mountain has active Fumarole, fumaroles and Hot spring, hot springs. It ...

at the southern side of the island. Other 14 specimens were later collected. It is the fourth species of mammal (so far known) living only on that mountain. The new species was described by Danilo S. Balete, Eric A. Rickart, Lawrence R. Heaney, and Sharon A. Jansa. It was classified as new species based on DNA analyses and structural descriptions (morphometric analyses). It is different from its closest relative, the Luzon hairy-tailed rat (''Batomys granti''), in its cytochrome ''b'' sequence, moderate body size, colour patterns, and skull structure.

Etymology

The specific name ''uragon'' is a Bicol word, the language of the local people, the Bicolanos in Luzon. Having no direct English rendering, the word is loosely translated as "possessing great ability, vitality, or power". This is to attribute the species for its dispersal ability, persistence, and uniqueness to the

Bicol Peninsula The Bicol Region, designated as Region V, is an administrative region of the Philippines. It comprises six provinces, four on the Bicol Peninsula (the southeastern end of Luzon): Albay, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, and Sorsogon, and two ...

Discovery

The first specimen (now the holotype) of ''B. uragon'' was collected by Eric A. Rickart, Curator of Vertebrates at the

Natural History Museum of Utah The Natural History Museum of Utah is a museum located in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The museum shows exhibits of natural history subjects, with an emphasis on Utah and the Intermountain West. The mission of the museum is to illumina ...

, on 25 April 1988. It is an old adult male. He found it while in the faunal expedition at

, about from the Naga City in Camarines Sur Province. The expedition was funded by

U.S. National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is ...

and the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

. The rat was in the mossy forest, at about above sea level. Later, 14 specimens were collected from around the same region. The specimens are deposited at the

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. With 4.4 ...

, Smithsonian Institution. DNA studies were performed by Sharon A. Jansa.

Description

Of the species of ''Batomys'' known to live on

, the large-toothed hairy-tailed rat (''B. dentatus'') is distinct. But ''B. granti'' is basically similar to ''B. uragon''. ''B. uragon'' differs from ''B. granti'' in slightly larger body, longer legs, but shorter tail, and larger skull. Males are larger than females. Males measure around in length, while females are around . This

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different Morphology (biology), morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecy, di ...

is almost absent in ''B. granti'', as both males and females are about . The tail length is in males, and in females. The total body weight is for males, and for females.

Karyotype A karyotype is the general appearance of the complete set of chromosomes in the cells of a species or in an individual organism, mainly including their sizes, numbers, and shapes. Karyotyping is the process by which a karyotype is discerned by de ...

shows that it has 52 chromosomes (

haploid Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell (biology), cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for Autosome, autosomal and Pseudoautosomal region, pseudoautosomal genes. Here ''sets of chromosomes'' refers to the num ...

, n=26). The colour of the

fur A fur is a soft, thick growth of hair that covers the skin of almost all mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an ...

is pale golden-brown. There are colour variations in individuals. One male specimen has a small pale brown patch of fur on the left side of the lower abdomen. The

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

has a pale golden fur, paler than other specimens.

Biology

''B. uragon'' only lives in high altitude regions, between above sea level. They live in old-growth montane and mossy forest, where there are thick leaf litters and humus layers. They eat nuts and seeds, hence, they have granivorous-

frugivorous A frugivore ( ) is an animal that thrives mostly on raw fruits or succulent fruit-like produce of plants such as roots, shoots, nuts and seeds. Approximately 20% of mammalian herbivores eat fruit. Frugivores are highly dependent on the abundance ...

diet. They are

nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...

and good climbers.

References

External links

Profile at Mammal's PlanetTaxon profile at BioLib
{{Taxonbar, from=Q20051705 Mammals described in 2015 Fauna of Luzon Rodents of the Philippines Endemic fauna of the Philippines Batomys