The Rajah spiny rat (''Maxomys rajah'') also known as the brown spiny rat is endemic to Thailand and Malaysia,
Sumatra
Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...
,
Borneo
Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...
, and adjacent islands (Payne'' et al.'', 1985).
Distribution and ecology
Corbet and Hill (1992) mention that ''Maxomys'' rats are often the most common rodent in the Southeast Asian tropical forest, from most of the
Malay Archipelago
The Malay Archipelago is the archipelago between Mainland Southeast Asia and Australia, and is also called Insulindia or the Indo-Australian Archipelago. The name was taken from the 19th-century European concept of a Malay race, later based ...
to
Sulawesi
Sulawesi ( ), also known as Celebes ( ), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the List of islands by area, world's 11th-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Min ...
,
Palawan
Palawan (, ), officially the Province of Palawan (; ), is an archipelagic province of the Philippines that is located in the region of Mimaropa. It is the largest province in the country in terms of total area of . The capital and largest c ...
and
Borneo
Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...
. This species can be found in
primary forest and logged-over forest. According to Payne ''et al.'' (1985) this species lives in primary or secondary forest and tends to favour sandy and lowland sites. This terrestrial species is mostly active on the ground but occasionally climbs into the upper canopy. Its tend to live separately from other rats.
''M.rajah'' is a common species but Yasuda ''et al.'' (2000) reported that very little is known about the ecological features of ''Maxomys'' rats.
Morphology
''M. rajah'' is medium in size where the upperparts are brown, darker in the midline, with numerous stiff gray-brown spines. The underparts are white with many short, white spines, and usually with a dark brown streak along the middle in adults, but never with an orange throat patch. The white color of the underparts extend down in a narrow line to the feet. Above the tail is brown, pale below and thinly haired. Usually, the range of the measurement of ''M. rajah'' are HB 138.1-218, T 142-210, T/HB = 102.9-109.3%, HF 33.8-43, E 21.9-22.3, Wt 71-218 g, D 1003/1003=16, M 2+2=8. Skull: gl 40.9-48.6, iob 6.6-7.4, mt 6.9-8.1. The immature Red Spiny Rats, ''M. surifer'' is similar ''M. rajah'' and quite difficult to distinguish. (Payne ''et al.'', 1985).
References
* Corbet, G.B and Hill, J.E.(1992). ''The mammals on the Indomalayan region: a systematic review''. Natural History Museum Publications and Oxford University Press.
* Payne, J., Francis, C.M. and Phillipps, K. (1985). ''Field guide to mammals of Borneo''. The Sabah Society with World Wildlife Fund Malaysia.
* Yasuda, M., Miura, S. and Hussein, N.A. (2000). Evidence for food hoarding behavior in terrestrial rodents in Pasoh forest reserve, a Malaysian lowland rain forest. ''Journal of Tropical forest Science''.
* Shadbolt, A. B and Ragai, R. (2010) Effects of habitat fragmentation on the movement patterns and dispersal ability of the brown spiny rat (Maxomys rajah) in the planted forest zone of Sarawak, Eastern Malaysia. Biodiversity and Conservation 19(2): pp 531 – 541.
External links
Photos at ARKive.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1763546
Rats of Asia
Maxomys
Rodents of Indonesia
Rodents of Malaysia
Rodents of Thailand
Rodents of Borneo
Vulnerable fauna of Asia
Mammals described in 1894
Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot