The number of unidentified species in the world is reduced by one after LSU Museum of Natural Science Curator of Mammals Jake Esselstyn and his colleagues from Indonesia and Australia discovered a new species name Hyorhinomys stuempkei, or hog-nosed rat.
Genetic testing recently confirmed that the hog-nosed rat is a new species.
In 2013, Esselstyn and other researchers traveled to the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia to conduct field research on the mountainous isle’s plant life. On their second day in the field, Esselstyn and a collaborator set traps on opposite sides of their camp and caught a Hyorhinomys stuempkei. Esselstyn said they instantly knew it was a new species of rat.
The rat has long, white lower incisors, a distinctive nose, large ears and long hind legs, which may have been used for hopping.
Esselstyn, who tried to visit Sulawesi at least once a year since 2010, said Hyorhinomys stuempkei was not the first new species he discovered on the isle.
“There have been lots of new species of rats being discovered in areas like the Philippines in the last 10 years because biologists are putting an effort into actually surveying them,” Esselstyn said.
After discovering the rats, they were taken out of their natural habitat and preserved as specimens. The animals’ organs, skeletons and skin were all kept for later analysis and compared to known animals to confirm the rat was a new species. In total, five hog-nosed rats were captured on the trip.
Esselstyn said the possibility of the new species being endangered is highly unlikely and believes many more hog-nosed rats are still on Sulawesi.
Mark Swanson, graduate student in the Museum of Natural Science, has worked under Esselstyn for a full academic year. He said Esselstyn has been supportive of his research and makes him feel like he made the right decision to come to LSU for his postgraduate studies.
“It’s discoveries like this that make working in his lab really exciting,” Swanson said. “We can’t really understand the ecological role an animal plays without first knowing they exist.”
Esselstyn will return to the island in January to survey a mountain on the north peninsula and look for other potentially new species. Of all the species he has helped to find so far, he said Hyorhinomys stuempkei was his second-favorite discovery.
“In this case, I knew when I saw it that it was a new species,” Esselstyn said. “There’s another case of species we found on Sulawesi in 2012 where I caught an animal that I also knew was a new species, but I didn’t realize how unusual it was until I got back to the museum and the skull had been cleaned. That one was like I was able to discover it twice.”
When he goes back to the island, Esselstyn said he expects to find another species and considers it a disappointment when the team does not. He said there’s a thrill to finding a new species in one of his traps.
“It’s 2015 and I still get to be an explorer,” Esselstyn said. “Who gets to do that? It’s an adventure, not always easy … but I think that’s what makes the successes all the more rewarding.”