Neotoma Macrotis
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The big-eared woodrat (''Neotoma macrotis'') is a
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 ...
rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and Mandible, lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal specie ...
of the
woodrat A pack rat or packrat, also called a woodrat or trade rat, are any species in the North and Central American rodent genus ''Neotoma''. Pack rats have a rat-like appearance, with long tails, large ears, and large, black eyes. Pack rats are notice ...
genus ''
Neotoma A pack rat or packrat, also called a woodrat or trade rat, are any species in the North and Central American rodent genus ''Neotoma''. Pack rats have a rat-like appearance, with long tails, large ears, and large, black eyes. Pack rats are notice ...
'', in the family
Cricetidae The Cricetidae are a family of rodents in the large and complex superfamily Muroidea. It includes true hamsters, voles, lemmings, muskrats, and New World rats and mice. At over 870 species, it is either the largest or second-largest family ...
. Closely related to, and formerly included in the species '' Neotoma fuscipes'', it is endemic to western North America and occurs west and south of the
Salinas Valley The Salinas Valley (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Valle de Salinas'') is one of the major valleys and most productive Agriculture, agricultural regions in California. It is located west of the San Joaquin Valley and south of San Francisco Bay and ...
from the
California Coast Ranges The Coast Ranges of California span from Del Norte County, California, Del Norte or Humboldt County, California, south to Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara County. The other three coastal California mountain ranges are the Trans ...
south of
Monterey Bay Monterey Bay is a bay of the Pacific Ocean located on the coast of the U.S. state of California, south of the San Francisco Bay Area. San Francisco itself is further north along the coast, by about 75 miles (120 km), accessible via California S ...
to northern
Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...
, as well as in the
Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...
, extending north to the South Fork American River. The big-eared woodrat is light to dark brown in color, often with a lighter underside. It has characteristically large mobile ears, large eyes, and a long, fur covered tail. It is a primarily arboreal herbivore and functions as an important keystone species in oak and other forest ecosystems.


Taxonomy

Although often misconstrued to be related to common rats, woodrats are not in fact part of the genus ''
Rattus ''Rattus'' is a genus of muroid rodents, all typically called rats. However, the term rat can also be applied to rodent species outside of this genus. Species and description The best-known ''Rattus'' species are the black rat (''R. rattus'') ...
'' and are quite biologically and behaviorally different from them. See
pack rat A pack rat or packrat, also called a woodrat or trade rat, are any species in the North and Central American rodent genus ''Neotoma''. Pack rats have a rat-like appearance, with long tails, large ears, and large, black eyes. Pack rats are notice ...
for similar species to the big-eared woodrat. Following a morphological and molecular analysis conducted in 2002, the big-eared woodrat (''Neotoma macrotis'') was upgraded from a
subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...
of the dusky-footed woodrat ('' Neotoma fuscipes'') to be recognized as its own taxonomically distinct species. As a result of this relatively recent reclassification, much of the information regarding this species encompasses both big-eared and dusky-footed woodrats. While the two species are quite visually similar, so much so that they are difficult to differentiate in most common sightings and encounters, morphologically, the big-eared woodrat can be distinguished from the dusky-footed woodrat through small differences in the anatomy of the skull and of the penis.


Distribution and habitat

The big-eared woodrat inhabits the southern portion of what was formerly the range of the dusky-footed woodrat, with the latter woodrat species inhabiting the northern portion the range. Specifically, big-eared woodrats' can be found along the west coast of North America from just south of Monterey Bay to Baja California. They are also found in the southern
Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...
mountains, much of
Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...
, and have discontiguous populations in California's central valley. Their habitat consists of coastal
chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant plant community, community found primarily in California, southern Oregon, and northern Baja California. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate (mild wet winters and hot dry summers) and infrequent, high-intens ...
, sage scrub, and densely wooded areas, with preferences for regions populated by
coast live oak ''Quercus agrifolia'', the California live oak, or coast live oak, is an evergreen live oak native to the California Floristic Province. Live oaks are so-called because they keep living leaves on the tree all year, adding young leaves and sheddi ...
and with extensive understory plant coverage.


Diet

The big-eared woodrat is primarily herbivorous, and consumes a wide variety of plants throughout its life. However, unlike most mammalian herbivores (which tend to be dietary generalists), big-eared woodrats have specialized to prefer consuming the leaves of plants that are very fibrous and that contain high quantities of
tannin Tannins (or tannoids) are a class of astringent, polyphenolic biomolecules that bind to and Precipitation (chemistry), precipitate proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids. The term ''tannin'' is widel ...
s and other
polyphenol Polyphenols () are a large family of naturally occurring phenols. They are abundant in plants and structurally diverse. Polyphenols include phenolic acids, flavonoids, tannic acid, and ellagitannin, some of which have been used historically as ...
ics, such as oak trees. This unusual specialization allows them to capitalize on food sources that are both abundant and that lack major competition. Big-eared woodrats consume oak leaves as greater than 85% of their diet, and this specialization differentiates big-eared woodrats from other species in the ''Neotoma'' genus that prefer more mixed diets of a variety of plant species.


Behavior and ecology


Diseases

A study of the species found the "Bear Canyon" virus, a
mammarenavirus ''Mammarenavirus'' is a genus of viruses in the family ''Arenaviridae''. The name is a portmanteau of mammal and the former name ''Arenavirus'', and differentiates it from the reptile-associated ''Reptarenavirus''. ''Arenavirus'' comes from the ...
, traditionally associated with the
California mouse The California deermouse or California mouse (''Peromyscus californicus'') is a species of rodent in the subfamily Neotominae in the family Cricetidae. It is a species of the genus ''Peromyscus'', a closely related group of New World rats and mic ...
, is actually passed by the big-eared woodrat before host-jumping to the California mouse.


Conservation status

The big-eared woodrat is listed as a
least-concern species A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...
by the
International Union for Conservation of Nature 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 stat ...
, but there are growing conservation concerns due to habitat loss and fragmentation, which in Southern California is particularly caused by
urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation in British English) is the population shift from Rural area, rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. ...
. This is a concern not only due to the potential for future declines in woodrat populations, but also due to the role these animals hold as an important prey species in the diets of
predatory birds Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as (although not the same as) raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, reptiles and smaller birds). In addition to speed and streng ...
.


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1763478 Neotoma Mammals described in 1893 Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas