1. White-tailed Tree Rat Brachytarsomys albicauda French: Antsangy a queue blanche / German: MadagaskarWeilRschwanzratte / Spanish: Rata arboricola de cola blanca Other common names: White-tailed Antsangy Taxonomy. Brachytarsomys albicauda Gunther, 1875, “ Tamantave [= Toamasina| to Murundava [= Morondava].” This species is monotypic. Distribution. Endemic to the Central Highlands and E Madagascar. Descriptive notes. Head-body 223-235 mm, tail 220-245 mm; weight 235-280 g. Muzzle of the White-tailed Tree Rat is short, and fur is soft, somewhat shaggy with dense woolly texture. Dorsum is grayish brown and more reddish toward sides and head. Belly and legs are cream. Ears are short. Tail has scattered hair, distal portion is black, and last 8-10 mm are white. Legs, digits, and toes are short. In some individuals, reddish color on flanks extends to dorsum. Habitat. Eastern humid lowland to montane forest at elevations of 875-1875 m. Food and Feeding. Diet of the White-tailed Tree Rat is presumably composed offruits, seeds, and perhaps foliage. It enters traps baited with banana. A large cache of seed capsules from Canarium (Burseraceae) was found in hollow broken tree limb. Breeding. There are four pairs of mammae, and maximum known littersizeis six young. Activity patterns. The White-tailed Tree Rat is nocturnal and strictly arboreal. It is known to roost in tree holes. Its tail is prehensile, and at night, it seems primate-like. Movements, Home range and Social organization. At one site, a White-tailed Tree Rat shared a tree hole with a Hairy-eared Dwarf Lemur (Allocebus trichotis). Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. The Whitetailed Tree Rat is a forest-dwelling species and is known from less than 15 localities spanning eastern humid forests of Madagascar. Given continued declines ofits habitat, its mediumand long-term future is uncertain. Bibliography. Biebouw et al. (2009), Carleton & Goodman (2003a), Carleton & Schmidt (1990), Goodman & Sterling (1996), Goodman, Ganzhorn & Rakotondravony (2003), Goodman, Soarimalala et al. (2013), Ramanana (2010), Soarimalala & Goodman (2011).

Published as part of Don E. Wilson, Russell A. Mittermeier & Thomas E. Lacher, Jr, 2017, Nesomyidae, pp. 156-203 in Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 7 Rodents II, Barcelona :Lynx Edicions on page 185, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6600357