The Ilin Island cloudrunner (''Crateromys paulus'') is a

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), ' ...

known from a single specimen purchased on

Ilin Island Ilin Island is a small island in the Philippines. Measuring , it is just south of Mindoro, separated by the Ilin Strait and Mangarin Bay. To the west is the smaller Ambulong Island, across the Ambulong Strait. Politically, the island is part of S ...

in the Philippines. It is called ''siyang'' by the Taubuwid

Mangyan Mangyan is the generic name for the eight indigenous groups found in Mindoro each with its own tribal name, language, and customs. The total population may be around 280,001, but official statistics are difficult to determine under the condi ...

. It is a fluffy-coated, bushy-tailed rat and may have emerged from tree hollows at night to feed on fruits and leaves. The specimen, collected on 4 April 1953, was presented to 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 ...

Washington D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

The island's forests have been destroyed by human activity. The cloudrunner is among the 25 “most wanted lost” species that are the focus of Re:wild’s “Search for Lost Species” initiative. As there in no proof that the single specimen originated on Ilin Island, searches are now focussed on nearby

Mindoro Mindoro is the seventh largest and eighth-most populous island in the Philippines. With a total land area of 10,571 km2 ( 4,082 sq.mi ), it has a population of 1,408,454, as of the 2020 census. It is located off the southwestern coast of ...

. Hope that it may be rediscovered have prompted

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

to improve its status from possibly

Extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

(EX?) in 1994 to

Critically Endangered An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...

(CR) in 1996 before the current

Data Deficient A data deficient (DD) species is one which has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as offering insufficient information for a proper assessment of conservation status to be made. This does not necessaril ...

(DD) from 2008.

References

* Flannery, Tim F., and Peter Schouten. ''A gap in nature : discovering the world's extinct animals.'' Melbourne: Text Pub, 2001. Print. *Musser, G. G. and M. D. Carleton. 2005. Superfamily Muroidea. pp. 894–1531 ''in'' Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. ;Specific {{Taxonbar, from=Q304226 Crateromys Rodents of the Philippines Mammals described in 1981 Endemic fauna of the Philippines Fauna of Mindoro Species known from a single specimen