607.

White-footed Climbing Rat

Rhipidomys leucodactylus

French: Rhipidomys a pattes blanches / German: Weil 3ful3-Neuweltklettermaus / Spanish: Rata trepadora de pies blancos

Other common names: Great Rhipidomys, White-footed Rhipidomys, White-footed Climbing Mouse

Taxonomy. Hesperomys (Rhipidomys) leucodactylus Tschudi, 1845, “im Oststriche.” Restricted by C. J. Tribe in 1996 to Montana | de Vitoc area in Junin, Peru .

Rhipidomys leucodactylus is the type species of the genus Rhipidomys and certainly represents a species complex. Treated as monotypic here, but additional taxonomic work is needed to clarify status of several nominal forms currently in the synonymy of leucodactylus .

Distribution. Ecuador, Peru, S Colombia, S Venezuela, the Guianas, N & WC Brazil, and C Bolivia.

Descriptive notes. Head—body 177-210 mm, tail 218-238 mm, ear 20-22 mm, hindfoot 31-38 mm; weight 125-218 g. The White-footed Climbing Rat is the largest species of Rhipidomys . Muzzle is short and somewhat pointed, eyes and ears are large, and long mystical vibrissa reach shoulders when folded back. Coatis usually thick dorsally and brown to agouti, with shades from gray to reddish or yellowish; guard hairs are obviously dark; and sides are paler. Ventral fur is woolly, contrasting back, white, cream, or yellowish; bases of hairs are gray and sometimes mixed with orange in pectoral region. Tail is 95-130% of head-body length, uniform reddish to dark brown color, and has an obvious tuft of hairs (15-40 mm) at tip. Hindlegs are robust and long, and dorsal surface is covered by dark hair that extendsto first or second phalanx from second to fifth digit, sometimes up to first digit. Sides of feet and tips of fingers are silver to gold.

Habitat. Primary, secondary, and gallery forests (typically moist, always green and flooded) brushland, and cultivated areas. The White-footed Climbing Rat prefers areas with dense vegetation, abundant lianas and epiphytes, and near bodies of water, but in southern Ecuador,it can be abundant in dry forest.

Food and Feeding. The White-footed Climbing Ratis frugivorous and considered a pest of agricultural crops; holotype was captured while gnawing fruit in a pineapple field.

Breeding. A White-footed Climbing Rat nested in a hole 15 m up in a tree. Peruvian records indicated that three pregnant females had two embryos in August-September, and two females from Ecuador had three embryos in September and November.

Activity patterns. The White-footed Climbing Rat is nocturnal and arboreal but actively forages on the ground.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. Home range of one White-footed Climbing Rat was 1-3 ha.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List.

Bibliography. Aguilar et al. (1977), Aguilera et al. (1994), Costa et al. (2011), Guillotin & Petter (1986), Handley (1976), Patton, Catzeflis et al. (2016a), Tribe (1996, 2015).