Cloud rat

Cloud rats are characterized by long furry or hairy tails and short hind limbs with grasping feet. They spend most of their time in the canopy of cloud forests, hence the name "cloud rat" or "cloudrunner". They are believed to be entirely herbivorous, primarily eating leaves, buds, bark, fruits, and seeds. Their ecology and behavior are poorly known. Cloud rats belonging to the genera Batomys, Crateromys, and Phloeomys are typically large, with the largest species being Phloeomys pallidus (reaching up to {{convert|2.7|kg|lbs|abbr=on}} in weight) and Crateromys schadenbergi (reaching up to {{convert|1.5|kg|lbs|abbr=on}} in weight). They measure from around {{convert|20|to|50|cm|in|abbr=on}} in length. Members of the genera Carpomys and Batomys are smaller, with a maximum weight of {{convert|165|g|lbs|abbr=on}} and {{convert|225|g|lbs|abbr=on}}, respectively. The smallest are members of the recently described genus Musseromys, with a recorded weight of only {{convert|15.5|g|lbs|abbr=on}} and body lengths of only {{convert|74|to|84|mm|in|abbr=on}}.{{cite web |last1=Musser |first1=Guy |title=Cloud rat |url=https://www.britannica.com/animal/cloud-rat |website=Britannica |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |access-date=23 April 2021}}

Several species of cloud rats are classified as endangered or critically endangered by the IUCN. Cloud rats are primarily threatened with habitat loss and human encroachment due to the extensive deforestation of the Philippines. Larger species of cloud rats (Phloeomys and Crateromys spp.) are also hunted for food, usually by hunter-gatherer tribes in the mountains of the Philippines. In some areas, they are the most commonly hunted species, and hundreds of animals are estimated to be killed annually. Hunting or possession of wildlife is illegal in the Philippines, under Republic Act 9147 (the Wildlife Protection and Conservation Law of 2001), but enforcement still remains problematic.{{cite journal |last1=Oliver |first1=W. L. R. |last2=Cox |first2=C. R. |last3=Gonzales |first3=P. C. |last4=Heaney |first4=L. R. |title=Cloud rats in the Philippines — preliminary report on distribution and status |journal=Oryx |date=January 1993 |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=41–48 |doi=10.1017/S0030605300023942|doi-access=free }}{{cite journal |last1=Heaney |first1=L.R. |last2=Mallari |first2=N.A.D. |title=A preliminary analysis of current gaps in the protection of threatened Philippine terrestrial mammals |journal=Sylvatrop |date=2002 |volume=10 |issue=2000 |pages=28–39}}{{cite news |last1=Russell |first1=Ruby |title=Cloud rats of the sky islands: 28 new mammal species found in the Philippines |url=https://www.dw.com/en/cloud-rats-of-the-sky-islands-28-new-mammal-species-found-in-the-philippines/a-19409516 |access-date=23 April 2021 |work=DW |date=19 July 2016}}{{cite news |title=A rediscovery of Dinagat bushy-tailed cloud rat helped starting conservation activities on Dinagat Island, Philippines. |url=https://tarsiusproject.org/a-rediscovery-of-dinagat-bushy-tailed-cloud-rat-helped-starting-conservation-activities-on-dinagat-island-philippines/ |access-date=23 April 2021 |work=Tarsius Project}}{{cite news |last1=Flora |first1=Ian Ocampo |title=2 giant cloud rats rescued |url=https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1890772/Pampanga/Local-News/2-giant-cloud-rats-rescued |access-date=23 April 2021 |work=SunStar |date=5 April 2021}}

Several zoos keep and breed cloud rats in captivity; including the London Zoo,{{cite news | title =Cloud rat arrives at London Zoo | publisher =BBC News | date = 2004-11-11 |

url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4000947.stm | access-date = 2008-04-28}} Prague Zoo, Central Park Zoo, Bronx Zoo, Wingham Wildlife Park,{{cite web|title=Northern Luzon Cloud Rat|url=https://winghamwildlifepark.co.uk/animal/northern-luzon-cloud-rat/|website=Wingham Wildlife Park|language=en |access-date=5 September 2019}} Chester Zoo,{{cite news | title =Chester Zoo has just become home to a tree kangaroo called Sangria | publisher =Chester Live | date = 2018-05-23 |

url =https://www.cheshire-live.co.uk/news/chester-cheshire-news/chester-zoo-just-become-home-14696872 | access-date = 2019-10-04}} and the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo.{{Cite web |title=White Nights Exhibit |url=https://www.jerusalemzoo.org/en-exhibitions/white-nights-exhibit |access-date=2022-06-01 |website=www.jerusalemzoo.org}}

The cloud rat clade (the "Phloeomys division", sensu Musser & Carleton, 2005), now treated as the tribe Phloeomyini (LeCompte et al., 2008), includes the closely related genera Batomys (hairy-taled rats), Carpomys (dwarf cloud rats), Crateromys (bushy-tailed cloud rats), Musseromys (Luzon tree mice), and Phloeomys (giant cloud rats). They belong to the subfamily Murinae of the family Muridae (rats and mice).{{MSW3 Muroidea | id = 13001270 | page = 1301}}{{cite journal |last1=Heaney |first1=Lawrence R. |last2=Balete |first2=Danilo S. |last3=Rickart |first3=Eric A. |last4=Veluz |first4=Maria Josefa |last5=Jansa |first5=Sharon A. |title=Three New Species of Musseromys (Muridae, Rodentia), the Endemic Philippine Tree Mouse from Luzon Island |journal=American Museum Novitates |date=16 May 2014 |issue=3802 |pages=1–27 |doi=10.1206/3802.1|s2cid=53542249 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/163236 }}{{cite journal |last1=Heaney |first1=Lawrence Richard |last2=Balete |first2=Danilo S. |last3=Duya |first3=Mariano Roy M. |last4=Duya |first4=Melizar V. |last5=Jansa |first5=Sharon A. |last6=Steppan |first6=Scott J. |last7=Rickart |first7=Eric A. |title=Doubling diversity: a cautionary tale of previously unsuspected mammalian diversity on a tropical oceanic island |journal=Frontiers of Biogeography |date=15 July 2016 |volume=8 |issue=2 |doi=10.21425/F58229667|doi-access=free }}

File:Batomys hamiguitan.jpg) from Mount Hamiguitan in southeastern Mindanao]]

File:Rat des nuages.jpg) in Jardin des plantes in Paris]]

Note: Extinct species known only from fossils are marked with {{extinct}}

• Tribe Phloeomyini
• Batomys {{small|Thomas, 1895}} - Hairy-tailed rats{{cite journal |author1=Balete, D.S. |author2=Heaney, L.R. |author3=Rickart, E.A. |author4=Quidlat, R.S. |author5=Ibañez, J.C. |year=2008 |title=A new species of Batomys (Mammalia: Muridae) from eastern Mindanao Island, Philippines |journal=Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington |volume=121 |issue=4 |pages=411–428 |doi=10.2988/07-47.1|s2cid=129828157 }}{{cite journal |author1=Balete, D.S. |author2=Rickart, E.A. |author3=Heaney, L.R. |author4=Jansa, S.A. |year=2015 |title=A new species of Batomys (Muridae, Rodentia) from southern Luzon Island, Philippines |journal=Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington |volume=128 |issue=1 |pages=22–39 |doi=10.2988/0006-324X-128.1.22|doi-access=free }}
• Batomys dentatus {{small|Miller, 1911}} - Large-toothed hairy-tailed rat
• Batomys granti {{small|Thomas, 1895}} - Luzon hairy-tailed rat
• Batomys hamiguitan {{small|Balete, Heaney, Rickart, Quidlat & Ibanez, 2008}} - Hamiguitan hairy-tailed rat
• Batomys russatus {{small|Musser, Heaney & Tabaranza Jr., 1998}} - Dinagat hairy-tailed rat
• Batomys salomonseni {{small|(Sanborn, 1953)}} - Mindanao hairy-tailed rat
• Batomys uragon {{small|Balete, Rickart, Heaney & Jansa, 2015}}
• {{extinct}}Batomys cagayanensis {{small|Ochoa et al, 2021}}{{Cite journal|last1=Ochoa|first1=Janine|last2=Mijares|first2=Armand S B|last3=Piper|first3=Philip J|last4=Reyes|first4=Marian C|last5=Heaney|first5=Lawrence R|date=2021-04-23|title=Three new extinct species from the endemic Philippine cloud rat radiation (Rodentia, Muridae, Phloeomyini)|url=https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyab023|journal=Journal of Mammalogy|volume=102|issue=gyab023|pages=909–930|doi=10.1093/jmammal/gyab023|issn=0022-2372|url-access=subscription}}File:Dwarf Cloud Rat of Mt. Pulag.jpg) from Mt. Pulag in northern Luzon]]
• Carpomys {{small|Thomas, 1895}} - Dwarf cloud rats
• Carpomys melanurus {{small|Thomas, 1895}} - Dwarf cloud rat, short-footed Luzon tree rat
• Carpomys phaeurus {{small|Thomas, 1895}} - White-bellied Luzon tree rat
• {{extinct}}Carpomys dakal {{small|Thomas, 1895}}
• Crateromys {{small|Thomas, 1895}} - Bushy-tailed cloud rats
• Crateromys australis {{small|Musser, Heaney & Rabor, 1985}} - Dinagat Island cloud rat, rediscovered in 2012
• Crateromys schadenbergi {{small|(Meyer, 1895)}} - Giant bushy-tailed cloud rat
• Crateromys paulus {{small|Musser & Gordon, 1981}} - Ilin Island cloud rat, collected in 1981 through a dead specimen{{cite journal|last1=Reyes|first1=Marian C.|last2=Ingicco|first2=Thomas|last3=Piper|first3=Philip J.|last4=Amano|first4=Noel|last5=Pawlik|first5=Alfred F.|date=January 2017|title=First fossil evidence of the extinct Philippine cloud rat Crateromys paulus (Muridae: Murinae: Phloeomyini) from Ilin Island, Mindoro, and insights into its Holocene abundance|journal=Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington|volume=130|issue=1|pages=84–97|doi=10.2988/17-00012|s2cid=135196784}}
• Crateromys heaneyi {{small|Gonzales & Kennedy, 1996}} - Panay bushy-tailed cloud rat
• {{extinct}}Crateromys ballik {{small|Ochoa et al., 2021}}
• Musseromys {{small|Heaney et al., 2009}} - Luzon tree mice
• Musseromys anacuao {{small|Heaney et al., 2014}}
• Musseromys beneficus {{small|Heaney et al., 2014}}
• Musseromys gulantang {{small|Heaney et al., 2009}} - Banahaw tree mouse
• Musseromys inopinatus {{small|Heaney et al., 2014}}
• Phloeomys {{small|(Waterhouse, 1839)}} - Giant cloud rats
• Phloeomys pallidus {{small|Nehring, 1890}} - Northern Luzon slender-tailed cloud rat
• Phloeomys cumingi {{small|(Waterhouse, 1839)}} - Southern Luzon slender-tailed cloud rat

• Apomys (earthworm mice)
• List of threatened species of the Philippines

{{Reflist|40em}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q28700192}}

Category:Rats of Asia

Category:Endemic fauna of the Philippines

Category:Rodents of the Philippines

Category:Mammal tribes

Category:Taxa named by Edward Richard Alston