The Ryukyu long-tailed giant rat or Ryukyu rat (''Diplothrix legata'') is a species of rodent in the family

Muridae The Muridae, or murids, are the largest family of rodents and of mammals, containing approximately 1,383 species, including many species of mice, rats, and gerbils found naturally throughout Eurasia, Africa, and Australia. The name Muridae come ...

. It is the only

extant Extant is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to: * Extant hereditary titles * Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English * Extant taxon, a taxon which is not extinct, ...

species in the genus '' Diplothrix''. It is found only in the Ryukyu Islands of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Its natural habitat is temperate forests.

Conservation

The species is threatened by habitat loss, predation by feral cats (with studies finding that the rat contributed 23% of feral cat's diet on Amami-Oshima), and introduced nematode and helminth parasites.

References

External links

Muridae Rats of Asia Endemic mammals of Japan Endemic fauna of the Ryukyu Islands Mammals described in 1906 Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Murinae-stub