Tokudaia is a genus of murine rodent native to Japan.[1] Known as Ryūkyū spiny rats or spinous country-rats, population groups exist on several non-contiguous islands.[2] Despite differences in name and appearance, they are the closest living relatives of the Eurasian field mouse (Apodemus). Of the three species, both T. osimensis and T. tokunoshimensis have lost their Y chromosome and SRY gene; the sex chromosomes of T. muenninki, on the other hand, are abnormally large.[3]

Tokudaia
Temporal range: Late Pleistocene to Recent
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Muridae
Tribe: Apodemini
Genus: Tokudaia
Kuroda, 1943
Type species
Rattus jerdoini osimensis[1]
Species

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Named species are:[3]

At least Tokudaia osimensis may be a cryptic species complex.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Musser, G. G.; Carleton, M. D. (2005). "Genus Tokudaia". In Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 1512–1513. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  2. ^ Sutou, S.; Mitsui, Y.; Tsuchiya, K. (2001). "Sex determination without the Y Chromosome in two Japanese rodents Tokudaia osimensis osimensis and Tokudaia osimensis spp". Mammalian Genome. 12 (1): 17–21. doi:10.1007/s003350010228.
  3. ^ a b Murata, C.; Yamada, F.; Kawauchi, N.; Matsuda, Y.; Kuroiwa, A. (2011-12-24). "The Y chromosome of the Okinawa spiny rat, Tokudaia muenninki, was rescued through fusion with an autosome". Chromosome Research. 20: 111–125. doi:10.1007/s10577-011-9268-6.