Lariscus obscurus

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	MAMMALIA	RODENTIA	SCIURIDAE

Scientific Name:	Lariscus obscurus
Species Authority:	(Miller, 1903)
Common Name/s: English – Mentawai Three-striped Squirrel
Taxonomic Notes:	Formerly included in insignis (Chasen 1940) or niobe (Chasen and Kloss 1927). This species is part of the rodent fauna endemic to the Mentawai Archipelago.

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:	Near Threatened     ver 3.1
Year Assessed:	2008
Assessor/s:	Aplin, K. & Lunde, D.
Reviewer/s:	Amori, G. (Small Nonvolant Mammal Red List Authority) & Schipper, J. (Global Mammal Assessment Team)
Justification: Listed as Near Threatened since although its extent of occurrence is probably less than 20,000 km2 and its habitat might be declining, thus making the species close to qualifying for Vulnerable under criterion B1ab(iii), it is probably abundant on Siberut island and it is likely to be tolerant to habitat modification.
History:	1996 – Lower Risk/near threatened

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	This species is found only on Mentawai Archipelago (Siberut, Sipora, North and South Pagai islands) off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia.
Countries:	Native: Indonesia (Sumatera)
Range Map:	Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population:	This species is probably abundant on Siberut island.
Population Trend:	Decreasing

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	There is no information available for this species, but close relatives are diurnal and terrestrial, prefer secondary forests and are probably found in scrub and forest edge They live in burrows or nest in fallen trees.
Systems:	Terrestrial

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):

This species is threatened by habitat degradation, although degraded forests may provide suitable habitat. Further, Rattus rattus and Rattus tiomanicus may compete with this species.

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:

This is a protected species in Indonesia and probably occurs in Siberut National Park.

Bibliography [top]

Chasen, F. N. 1940. A handlist of Malaysian mammals; a systematic list of the mammals of the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo and Java, including the adjacent small islands. Bulletin of the Raffles Museum, Singapore 15: 1-209. Chasen, F. N. and Kloss, C. B. 1927. Spolia Mentawiensia mammals. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1927: 797-840.