Eastern woodrat

Eastern woodrat
A large-eared, large-eyed rat, brownish above and white below, in green vegetation.
Neotoma floridana smalli
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Cricetidae
Genus:	Neotoma
Species:	N. floridana
Binomial name
Neotoma floridana (Ord, 1818)

The eastern woodrat (Neotoma floridana), is a pack rat native to the central and Eastern United States. Its range extends from the latitude of southeastern New York south to the Gulf of Mexico. It has been recovered as a fossil from late Pleistocene deposits in southeastern New Mexico, several hundred miles southwest of its nearest current range.

Neotoma magister was previously considered to be within N. floridana, but the two are now considered to be separate species.

As with most members of the genus, it feeds opportunistically on nuts, seeds, fungi, buds, stems, roots, foliage, and fruits. In the southern states, it often lives in holes in the ground or hollow trees, constructing large nests.

Predators include black rat snakes and long-tailed weasels.

The eastern woodrat has four clawed digits and a thumb on the front limbs, and five clawed digits on its rear limbs.

References

Bibliography

• Harris, A. H. 1984. Neotoma in the Late Pleistocene of New Mexico and Chihuahua. Special Publications, Carnegie Museum of Natural History 8:164-178.
• Wiley, R. W. 1980. Neotoma floridana. Mammalian Species, No. 139:1-7.