New records of rodent species in Bangladesh: taxonomic studies from rodent outbreak areas in the Chittagong hill tracts

Abstract

Rodents are regarded as crop pests, significant reservoirs and vectors for many zoonotic diseases around the world. Basic taxonomic information of rodents present in a locality can help understand which species are responsible as crop pest in that habitat. The phenomenon of the 50-year cycle of gregarious bamboo flowering and rodent outbreaks in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh, rodents trapping were carried out in four habitats from March, 2009 to December, 2011 in Ruma upazila of Bandarban hill district. Variety of traps were used to capture small mammals. The captured species were measured and identified using taxonomical dichotomous keys and DNA bar-coding performed in Australia. A total of 14 different small mammalian species were captured of which nine belonging to the Muridae family, and one species each of Spalacidae, Sciuridae, Tupaiidae and Soricidae families. The dominant small mammal species captured were Rattus rattus (54.06%) followed by Mus musculus (26.39%), Rattus nitidus (10.98%), Suncus murinus (5.45%), Mus terricolor (1.09%), Mus cookii nagarum (0.97%), Cannomys badius (0.16%), Leopoldamys edwardsi (0.12%), Berylmys bowersi (0.12%), Vernaya fulva (0.08%), Rattus andamanensis (0.08%), Tupaia glis (0.04%) and Callosciurus pygerythrus (0.04%). Rattus nitidus, Leopoldamys edwardsi, Vernaya fulva, Rattus andamanensis, Berylmys bowersi and Mus cookii nagarum are new records of rodent species in Bangladesh. Ten individuals of Mus spp. (0.40%) were not identified to species level, requiring further genetic analysis to determine their species. The implications of these discoveries are discussed in terms of agricultural pests.

Rodent-borne health risks in farming systems

“…With respect to rodent management method we found that the main rodent pests in village households were Rattus rattus, followed by Mus musculus, and Bandicota bengalensis. This is in line with findings from Bangladesh (Chakma et al, 2018), India (Santra & Manna, 2008), Pakistan (Rehman et al, 2019), and Myanmar (Brown, P. R. et al, 2008;Htwe et al, 2016), where R. rattus and B. bengalensis were also found to be the main rodent pests. During the dry season, fewer rodents were trapped (n=89) than during the wet season (n=121).…”

Detection of zoonotic-borne parasites in Rattus spp. in Klang Valley, Malaysia

“…A study conducted by Chakma et al . [ 1 ] mentioned that rats are the most destructive agricultural pests and vectors of zoonotic diseases worldwide, such as plague, leptospirosis, leishmaniasis, and Hantavirus. Because of the physiological similarity between rats and humans, their huge diversity, and the fact that some species of rats have adapted to living in close contact with humans, rats play a crucial role as reservoirs and vectors for zoonotic diseases [ 2 ].…”

Infestation and Seasonal Fluctuation of Gamasid Mites (Parasitiformes: Gamasida) on Indochinese Forest Rat, Rattus andamanensis (Rodentia: Muridae) in Southern Yunnan of China

“…nuttalli and L . echidninus are widely distributed in Asia, Europe, America, Africa, Australia, and other parts of the world [ 1 , 46 , 47 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 ], and they often co-exist on the same species of hosts in the same geographical regions [ 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 ]. From north to south, L .…”