Habits of the Southern Bamboo Rat, Kannabateomys amblyonyx (Rodentia, Echimyidae) in Southeastern Brazil

Abstract

The natural history of the Southern Bamboo Rat Kannabateomys amblyonyx was studied in two reserves in the Atlantic forest of southern Brazil. Southern Bamboo Rats were observed to feed only on the leaves and shoots of two bamboo species, the native Guadua angustifolia and an introduced Phyllostachys. The rats communicate vocally, and our observations suggest both territorial and defensive functions for their calls. Although able to colonize patches of new habitat created by man, the dietary specialization of the Bamboo Rat makes it vulnerable to the destruction of the native rainforest.Resume. -L'histoire naturelle du Rat des Bambous Kannabateomys amblyonyx a ete etudiee dans deux reserves de la foret atlantique, dans la region sud-est du Bresil. Les Rats des Bambous ont ete observes s'alimentant de pousses et de feuilles de deux especes de bambous Guadua angustifolia, endemique, et un Phyllostachys, introduit. Ces rats communiquent vocalement, et nos observations proposent tant une function territoriale qu'une function defensive pour leurs cris. Bien que cette espece soit capable de coloniser de nouveaux habitats crees par 1'homme, la specialisation alimentaire du Rat des Bambous le rend vulnerable face ä la destruction de la foret tropicale indigene.

Elephants versus butterflies: the ecological role of large herbivores in the evolutionary history of two tropical worlds

“…Although caviomorphs are trophically diverse, they are typically more herbivorous and less faunivorous than the dominant Paleotropical rodents of the family Muridae. The Neotropical family Echimyidae includes several species of arboreal folivores, such as bamboo rats ( Kannabateomys amblyonyx ) in the Atlantic forest and Dactylomys dactylinus in the Amazon, which can become locally abundant (Olmos et al. , 1993; Patton et al.…”

“…Although caviomorphs are trophically diverse, they are typically more herbivorous and less faunivorous than the dominant Paleotropical rodents of the family Muridae. The Neotropical family Echimyidae includes several species of arboreal folivores, such as bamboo rats (Kannabateomys amblyonyx) in the Atlantic forest and Dactylomys dactylinus in the Amazon, which can become locally abundant (Olmos et al, 1993;Patton et al, 2000). By contrast, the continental murid species in Paleotropical forests cannot cope with plants that are chemically well protected; not surprisingly, folivorous murids in Paleotropical forests only occur in islands such as the Philippines that have few large herbivores (Eisenberg, 1978).…”

Distribuição e conservação do rato-do-bambu Kannabateomys amblyonyx (Rodentia, Echimyidae) no Estado de Minas Gerais, Brasil

“…Museum consults allowed the lo-and leaves (Silva, 2005), it is not captured in baited traps commonly used in small mammal sampling such as sherman and tomahawk live traps (Kierulff et al, 1991). Appropriated methods for the species record such as double entry traps installed on artificial bamboo bridges (Kierulff et al, 1991), active search and listening efforts (Olmos et al, 1993) are generally not applied in mammalian inventories. Second, this may represent a less abundant species, with isolated populations or meta-populations restricted to the forest fragments which host bamboo areas with the capacity to provide spatial and feeding resources needed for maintaining such populations.…”

New and noteworthy records of rodents (Mammalia, Rodentia, Cricetidae and Echimyidae) from Paraguay

“…The new specimen reported here is the first confirmed specimen from Paraguay in over a century. Endemic to the Atlantic Forest of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina, the southern bamboo rat is a bamboo specialist (Stallings et al 1994), with an exclusive diet of shoots and leaves of bamboo, as well as using bamboo for arboreal travel (Kierulff et al 1991, Olmos et al 2009). They are known to live inside thickets of bamboo near to waterways, including in planted or naturally occurring bamboo patches in close proximity to agriculture (Emmons et al 2015).…”