Soft-furred rat
| Soft-furred rat | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Muridae |
| Genus: | Millardia |
| Species: | M. meltada |
| Binomial name | |
| Millardia meltada (Gray, 1837) | |
The soft-furred rat (Millardia meltada), or soft-furred metad, is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.
Description
Head and body length is 13–16 cm. Tail ss 12–14 cm. Yellowish to brownish gray dorsally and whitish in the undeparts. Tail naked, blackish above, paler beneath. Fine dense fur shorter ventrally. Many shortish whiskers. Males are larger.
Its grey in color with a white belly, the tail is sparsely haired with visible annular rings and the tail constitutes over 80% of head and body. It lives in burrows usually located in bunds at the edges of the fields It is roughly distributed from Balochistan to N.W.F.P and parts of southern Punjab. It is nocturnal not particularly colonial, insects form a significant part of its diet. It also feeds upon wheat, rice and sugar cane. It’s fossorial specie. It occurs in tropical and sub tropical dry deciduous forests, tropical grasslands, irrigated croplands and grasslands with gravel. Agriculture lands, water courses, embankments, dry rocky hills. It has been found to occupy gravelly areas, bunds of fields and largely cultivated areas [1]
In culture
Soft furred rat is known as කෙස්මුදු කෙත් මීයා in Sinhala language.
References
- ↑ Molur, S. & Nameer, P.O. (2008). Millardia meltada. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2.
- Baillie, J. 1996. Millardia meltada. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 9 July 2007.
- Musser, G.G.; Carleton, M.D. (2005). "Superfamily Muroidea". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 894–1531. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.