Discovery of a new, possibly arboreal, rice rat species in southeastern Ecuador

New rat species of the little known and rare genus Mindomys described: Three expeditions led an international research team with participation from the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB) to the nearly inaccessible Cordillera de Kutukú, an isolated mountain range in the province of Morona Santiago in southeastern Ecuador, to find just a single specimen of the previously unknown species. The researchers named the new species Mindomys kutuku. Little is known about its natural history and ecological importance. The find in the Amazonian side of the Andes underlines the valuable biological role of this mountainous region.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft