Journal
of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 December 2020 | 12(17):
17383–17384
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)
doi: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.6005.12.17.17383-17384
#6005 | Received 17 April 2020 | Finally accepted 22
December 2020
First photographic record of the
Asiatic Brush-tailed Porcupine Atherurus macrourus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Mammalia: Rodentia: Hystricidae) from the Barak Valley region of Assam, India
Rejoice Gassah
1 & Vijay Anand Ismavel 2
1,2 The Makunda
Christian Leprosy and General Hospital, Bazaricherra,
Karimganj District, Assam 788727, India.
1 joicesatisfy@gmail.com, 2 ivijayanand@yahoo.in
(corresponding author)
Editor: Anwaruddin Choudhury, The Rhino Foundation for Nature in
North East India, Guwahati, India. Date
of publication: 26 December 2020 (online & print)
Citation: Gassah, R. & V.A. Ismavel (2020). First photographic record of the Asiatic
Brush-tailed Porcupine Atherurus macrourus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Mammalia: Rodentia: Hystricidae) from the Barak Valley region of Assam, India. Journal of
Threatened Taxa 12(17): 17383–17384. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.6005.12.17.17383-17384
Copyright: © Gassah & Ismavel 2020. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
License. JoTT
allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and distribution of this article in any
medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of
publication.
Funding: The equipment (camera trap) used in this observation
was funded by the Makunda Christian Leprosy and General Hospital.
Competing interests: The authors
declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: The authors wish to acknowledge
with thanks the utilization of camera trap, GPS and other equipment provided by
the Makunda Christian Leprosy and General Hospital
for this observation.
An Asiatic Brush-tailed Porcupine
Atherurus macrourus
(Linnaeus, 1758) was photographed on the 25 February 2019 at 23.49h in
semi-evergreen forest, close to Dosdewa Village in Karimganj District of Assam (92.4050N &
24.3580E) using a camera trap during biodiversity documentation
activities. This is the first
photographic record of this species from the Barak Valley region of Assam
(Image 1–3). The Asiatic Brush-tailed
Porcupine is a species of rodent in the Hystricidae
family and is the smallest and rarest of the three species of porcupines found
in southern Asia (Molur 2020). In India, this species occurs only in
northeastern India and has been reported from Namdapha
National Park of Arunachal Pradesh, Garampani
Wildlife Sanctuary of Assam, Intanki National Park in
Nagaland, Ngengpui Wildlife Sanctuary of Mizoram, and
Khasi Hills of Meghalaya (Talukdar et al. 2019); there are also records from
the other states (Choudhury 2013). In 2014,
the species was observed from the Gedu Territorial
Forest Division of western Bhutan (Dhendup & Dorji 2017).
Worldwide, it has also been reported from southern China, northern
Myanmar, northern Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Malay peninsula, and adjacent islands
(Molur 2020).
The species is distinguished by
absence of crest, back covered with rigid spines and tail bearing scales with
short spiny bristles in-between and ending in a cluster of alternately expanded
and contracted papery hairs 8–10cm long giving a characteristic brush-like
appearance which was clearly captured in the photographs (Agarwal 2000). Being a shy, nocturnal, and fossorial animal,
it is very difficult to get diagnostic images of this species, except through
camera trapping. Porcupines are seen as
a pest by farmers and are also trapped and consumed as meat. Although this species is classified as Least
Concern (LC) in the IUCN Red List it is protected in India under Schedule II –
Part I of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act.
The presence of this species in the Barak Valley of Assam is significant
as it indicates that good mammalian diversity occurs in this region, inspite of rapid degradation of the forests.
References
Agarwal V.C.
(2000). Taxonomic
Studies of Indian Muridae and Hystricidae
Mammalia: Rodentia). Records of the Zoological Survey of India Occassional Paper No. 180, -177pp.
Choudhury
A.U. (2013). The Mammals
of North East India. Gibbon Books and The Rhino Foundation for Nature in NE India. 432pp.
Dhendup T. & R. Dorji
(2017). First record
of the Asiatic Brush-tailed Porcupine Atherurus
macrourus Linnaeus 1758 (Mammalia: Rodentia: Hystricidae) from western Bhutan. Journal of Threatened
Taxa 9(11): 10959–10960. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.3791.9.11.10959-10960
Molur, S. (2020). Atherurus macrourus. (amended version of 2016
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& B. Singh (2019). Current
Records of porcupine in northeast India: distribution, habitat preference and
conservation. Tropical Ecology 60: 41–51. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42965-019-00005-4