Mexican woodrat | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Rodentia |
Family: | Cricetidae |
Subfamily: | Neotominae |
Genus: | Neotoma |
Species: | N. mexicana |
Binomial name | |
Neotoma mexicana Baird, 1855 | |
The Mexican woodrat (Neotoma mexicana) is a medium-sized pack rat.
It ranges from the United States (Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and parts of Arizona and Trans-Pecos Texas) south to Honduras. Although occurring at lower elevations during the Pleistocene, it generally is limited now to highlands supporting open coniferous forests or woodlands. In a few places, it occurs in lower country where lava or boulder fields occur; presumably the presence of spaces extending far below the surface enables survival. Like most members of the genus living in rocky areas, dens tend to take advantage of crevices, rock shelters, and caves; stick nests are relatively rare.
The type locality is near Chihuahua, Mexico. Some 26 species names have been applied to populations of the Mexican woodrat and are now considered synonyms.
The animal averages a bit over 300 mm in total length and weighs 140 to 185 g. Their diets tend to be generalist, with a wide variety of berries, vegetation, nuts, acorns, and fungi, though foliage seems to make up the major food class.
The desert woodrat is a species of pack rat native to desert regions of western North America.
The eastern woodrat, also known as the Florida woodrat or bush rat, is a pack rat native to the central and Eastern United States. It constructs large dens that may serve as nests for many generations and stores food in outlying caches for the winter. While widespread and not uncommon, it has declined or disappeared in several areas.
The white-throated woodrat is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found from central Mexico north to Utah and Colorado in the United States. It is primarily a western species in the United States, extending from central Texas west to southeastern California. Populations east of the Rio Grande in New Mexico and Trans-Pecos Texas, previously considered to be variants of the white-throated woodrat, have since 1988 been assigned to the white-toothed woodrat.
The Tamaulipan woodrat is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found only in Mexico.
Anthony's woodrat is an extinct subspecies of Bryant's woodrat in the family Cricetidae. It was found only on Isla Todos Santos in Baja California, Mexico. It is thought to have been driven to extinction through predation from feral cats.
Bryant's woodrat is a species of new-world rodent in the family Cricetidae native to the Southwestern United States and Mexico.
Bunker's woodrat is an extinct subspecies of Bryant's woodrat in the family Cricetidae. Only five specimens are known; these were collected in 1932 by W.H. Burt and are housed at a museum at UCLA. Neotoma bunkeri was only described from Coronados Islands, Baja California, Mexico. It probably died out as a result of depletion of food resources and predation by feral cats.
The bushy-tailed woodrat, or packrat is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae found in Canada and the United States. Its natural habitats are boreal forests, temperate forests, dry savanna, temperate shrubland, and temperate grassland.
The dusky-footed woodrat is a species of nocturnal rodent in the family Cricetidae. They are commonly called "packrats" or "trade rats" and build large, domed dens that can reach several feet in height. Coyotes and other predators will attempt to prey on these rodents by laying waste to the dens, but the sheer volume of material is usually dissuasive. Occasionally, dusky-footed woodrats will build satellite dens in trees. Although these animals are solitary, except in the mating season, dens are frequently found in clusters of up to several dozen, forming rough "communities". The mating system in this species appears to be variable, with promiscuity most generally at high population densities and monogamy at lower densities.
Goldman's woodrat is a rodent species in the family Cricetidae. It is found only in Mexico throughout the Mexican Plateau, stretching from southeastern Chihuahua to southern San Luis Potosí and northern Querétaro. The plateau is an average 5,988 ft. above sea level and covers a land area of 232,388 sq. miles.
The Southern Plains woodrat is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found in northwest Mexico and in Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas in the United States. The subspecies Neotoma micropus leucophaea, the White Sands woodrat, has white coloration, and is found only at White Sands National Park in New Mexico.
The Bolaños woodrat is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae found only in Mexico.
The Sonoran woodrat is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae found only in Mexico.
Stephen's woodrat is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae found in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah in the United States.
Neotoma leucodon is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. Although originally named from San Luis Potosí, Mexico, as a species by Clinton Hart Merriam, the white-toothed woodrat was long considered to be a synonym of the white-throated woodrat. Molecular data, however, indicate the populations east of the Rio Grande in New Mexico and Trans-Pecos Texas represent a different species than morphologically similar populations west of the river.
The big-eared woodrat is a nocturnal rodent of the woodrat genus Neotoma, in the family Cricetidae. 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 from the California Coast Ranges south of Monterey Bay to northern Baja California, as well as in the Sierra Nevada, extending north to the South Fork American River.
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 noticeably larger than deer mice, harvest mice, and grasshopper mice, and are usually somewhat larger than cotton rats.
Neotoma findleyi, or Findley's woodrat, is an extinct species of rodent that was found in New Mexico. It lived during the Pleistocene, going extinct during the Rancholabrean.