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2023 - A new species of “soft-furred hedgehog,” Podogymnura intermedia, named from eastern Mindanao
The term “soft-furred hedgehog” seems like a nearly impossible notion; part of the undeniable appeal of hedgehogs is their covering of sharp quills. But Southeast Asia has about ten species with soft fur that are members of the hedgehog family, and that number has just increased by one based on a new publication. A manuscript that Danny Balete (FMNH Research Associate) partially completed before his death in 2017 has now been completed by Larry Heaney (Negaunee Curator of Mammals) and colleagues from the US and Philippines, and published in the January 2023 issue of Zootaxa describing Podogymnura intermedia, recognized as the fourth Philippine species in this unusual group of species.
This is the second species of mammal endemic to “sky islands” in southeastern Mindanao described by the Philippine Mammal Project team. This part of the Philippines had been largely biologically unexplored until the 2010s, when Danny Balete led our team to the area, in collaboration with the Philippine Eagle Foundation. These discoveries require intensive and persistent field work in many different areas to obtain specimens for comparative morphological and genetic study, and so are very time-consuming. Discovery of this new species increases our knowledge of geographic patterns of biodiversity endemism and evolution in this complex archipelago, and provides increased incentive for protection of the area by local indigenous people, conservation organizations, and local and national government units, in an area that is one of the last strongholds of one of the largest raptors in the world, the endangered Philippine eagle. A BBC Wildlife article included the new “Podo” as one of the most noteworthy new species of 2023, and a Rappler.com article published in the Philippines highlighted its importance for promoting conservation. For more information, read the paper here and check out these websites: BBC Wildlife: 11 New Species Discovered in 2023 Rappler: Scientists Dicsover 2 New Hedgehog Species in Mindanao |
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2022 - A new genus and species from eastern Mindanao, Baletemys kampalili, named in honor of Danny BaleteIn the past several decades, we’ve learned just how incredibly important the Philippines Islands are in terms of being home to mammals that are found nowhere else, and a lot of that knowledge can be traced back to fieldwork led by Danny Balete, conducted as part of the Philippine Mammal Project . A prime example is a paper published in August 2022, describing a new mouse, given the name Baletemys kampalili, in the Journal of Mammalogy, by Dakota Rowsey, Aloy Duya, Jayson Ibanez, Sharon Jansa, Eric Rickart, and Larry Heaney.
“Naming a new species after anyone is a big deal, a major honor given to people who make long-term, high-impact contributions to biodiversity science,” says Dakota Rowsey, the study’s first author, vertebrate collections manager at Arizona State University and research associate at the Field Museum. “Naming a new genus after someone is one of the highest honors biologists can bestow.” The new species was discovered on Mt. Kampalili in eastern Mindanao, an area where virtually no mammal surveys had been conducted previously, by a team from the Field Museum and the Philippine Eagle Foundation led by Danny Balete. For more information, read the paper here and check out these websites: University of the Philippines: "Balete's mouse": New genus of "shrew mice" named in honor of Filipino biologist Discover Magazine: New Species of Shrew-Like Mouse Could Save Endangered Philippine Eagles |
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2021 - Molecular assessment of dietary niche partitioning in an endemic island radiation of tropical mammalsDo some Philippine native forest mice really eat earthworms? A newly published study demonstrates that they do, and that for some species, worms make up a very large portion of their diet. Island radiations, such as the Philippine group known as "earthworm mice" (Chrotomyini), represent unique evolutionary histories in unique ecological contexts. DNA metabarcoding produces fine levels of diet identification, and does so more quickly than traditional methods that involve staring through microscopes for days, weeks, and months on end. In our new study, we used DNA metabarcoding to determine that Rhynchomys and Chrotomys heavily specialize on earthworms (more than 95%!), and Soricomys eat worms (40%) but also some crickets and frogs. Each of the three species of Apomys has a very broad but distinctive omnivorous diet. More distantly related native rodents (Bullimus luzonicus and Rattus everetti) are also omnivores; the native shrew (Crocidura grayi) eats lots of earthworms and some insects. Thus, each species of native small mammal captured on Mt. Sicapoo, Apayao Province, has a unique feeding niche.
Read the paper here |
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2021 - Fossils of "giant cloud rats" discovered in Philippine cavesExtinct large mammals on the island of Luzon are relatively well known, but fossils of smaller-sized mammals are not well documented, likely because most research targeted open-air sites featuring large fossil mammal faunas, versus caves, which preserve a broader size-range of vertebrates including the teeth and bones of rodents, discovery of which requires painstaking sieving of deposits. Lead author Janine Ochoa (University of the Philippines – Diliman), co-author Larry Heaney (Field Museum) and their collaboratos examined fossil assemblages from caves in the Callao limestone formation, looking for material associated with the recently discovered human species Homo luzonensis, and found teeth and fragments of bone from these cloud rats. Analysis of these fossils, plus specimens in the National Museum of the Philippines, some excavated in the 1970s and 1980s, yielded three species of giant cloud rat not previously known. — News from the Field (MNH)
Read the paper here University of the Philippines: Breakthrough: Extinct giant rodents discovered in the Philippines Atlas Obscura: Giant Cloud Rats Hint at a Prehistoric Biodiversity Paradise Gizmodo: Bones of Extinct Giant Cloud Rats Found in Philippines |
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2021 - 'Extinct' Mt. Pinatubo Volcano Mouse RediscoveredIn June 1991, Mount Pinatubo, a volcanic peak on the Philippine Island of Luzon, literally blew its top. It was the second-most powerful volcanic eruption of the 20th century, ten times stronger than Mount Saint Helens, and its effects were devastating. Eight hundred people lost their lives, and the lush forests that covered the mountain prior to the eruption were destroyed or severely damaged. In recent years, a team from the Field Museum led by Danny Balete returned to the region to survey the surviving mammal populations. In a new paper by lead author Eric Rickart and colleagues in the Philippine Journal of Science, the team announced the rediscovery of a species of mouse that had long been feared to be extinct. Instead, it was the most abundant mammal on the mountain.
Read the paper here The New York Times: The Mouse That Survived a Volcanic Apocalypse Mongabay: On a Philippine volcano, an eruption-proof mouse rules the roost University of Utah, @THEU: Rediscovery of the 'extinct' Pinatubo volcano mouse |
