Archboldomys

Archboldomys is a rodent species from the group of Altweltmäuse ( Murinae ). They are small, shrew -like rodents, they weigh less than 50 grams. Their fur is brown, the tail is relatively short. The genus includes three species, on the Philippine island of Luzon are all endemic:

The Isarog Shrew Rat ( Archboldomys luzonensis ) lives exclusively in the montane rain forest on the volcano Isarog. The rodent specialist Guy Musser described this animal for the first time in 1982 and named it after Richard Archbold, died in 1976 a conveyor zoological expeditions, whose foundation had organized Mussers Philippines travel. The holotype was an animal with a head-body length of seven centimeters, and an equally long tail. The top is dark brown, the underside dark gray. After the first description, it took almost twenty years for the Isarog shrew rat was found again. It has now been found that it is relatively common even at an altitude 1350-1750 meters. Because of their extremely small distribution area it is "endangered" by the IUCN as yet ( vulnerable ) classified. She's obviously a diurnal inhabitants of the forest floor, feeding on earthworms and insects.

The Palanan Shrew Rat ( Archboldomys musseri ) was described in 1998. Named after Guy Musser animal lives in the Sierra Madre of northeastern Luzon. The species is relatively common, according to IUCN and not one of the endangered species.

With Archboldomys kalinga a third species was described in 2006. This species is known only from the province of Kalinga in the Cordillera Administrative Region.

Systematically, the genus Archboldomys considered part of the Chrotomys group, a living only in the Philippines Radiation of Altweltmäuse.