Hog-nosed Shrew Rat (courtesy: Kevin C. Rowe, Senior Curator of Mammals, Museum Victoria) Hog-nosed Shrew Rat (courtesy: Kevin C. Rowe, Senior Curator of Mammals, Museum Victoria) Jake Esselstyn, Curator of Mammals for the LSU Museum of Natural Science (courtesy: Kevin C. Rowe, Senior Curator of Mammals, Museum Victoria) 
 
 LSU Museum of Natural Science Curator of Mammals Jake Esselstyn and his international collaborators have discovered a new genus and species on a remote, mountainous island in Indonesia. This new discovery is the third new genus described by this group of scientists since 2012, and identifies a rodent with features never seen by the scientific community before. 
 
 On the second morning of their field season in 2013, Esselstyn and Museum Victoria Senior Curator of Mammals Kevin Rowe set out in opposite directions from their field camp to check their traps. Unbeknownst to each other, they both caught the same type of animal in their respective traps and immediately knew they were looking at a new species. 
 
 “We had never seen anything like this. It was obviously a new species. We came back to camp and were both surprised that the other one had it as well,” Esselstyn said. 
 
 The animal is a shrew rat with a large, flat, pink nose and forward-facing nostrils for which they named the Hog-nosed rat, or Hyorhinomys stuempkei. With extremely large ears, long hind legs that may be used for hopping, long white incisors and very long urogenital hairs, the Hog-nosed rat is so genetically different from any other species that the scientists described it as a new genus. This discovery is the cover story of the Journal of Mammalogy this month. 
 
 Long incisors are a trait of shrew rats. But the Hog-nosed rat has especially long incisors. Another distinct characteristic of the Hog-nosed rat is that it lacks a jaw muscle attachment point found in most mammals called the coronoid process on the dentary bone. 
 
 “I don’t know of any other rodents that have lost the coronoid process completely,” Esselstyn said. 
 
 The loss of the coronoid process indicates a weak jaw musculature and a diet that does not require vigorous chewing. The scientists found that the new species eats earthworms and beetle larvae. 
 
 Challenging Study Site 
 
 The island of Sulawesi in Indonesia is geographically complex, mountainous and challenging to scientifically sample. Little research has been conducted on the island since the early 20th century. 
 
 “On Sulawesi, there is a lot of ground to cover and most of it hasn’t been surveyed before, especially at high elevation,” Esselstyn said. 
 
 He and his collaborators from Australia and Indonesia have been studying the region since 2010. Inundated by constant rain, the study site for this discovery was a moss-covered habitat on Mt. Dako at about 1,600 meters elevation and a two-day trek from the nearest village. 
 
 “There’s a lot of biogeographic complexity at Sulawesi. So we’re not too surprised that we’re finding new things. But our team has been a bit surprised by the degree to which these animals are really novel. They are not just subtly different organisms, but really charismatically different,” Rowe said. 
 
 The scientists described the Few-toothed shrew rat, or Paucidentomys vermidax, in 2012. One of the reasons why scientists have thought that rodents have been evolutionarily successful is they have incisors for gnawing and molars for grinding. 
 
 “However, this rat we described in 2012, doesn’t have molars and they really can’t gnaw because of the shape of their incisors. Interestingly, this species has lost the two things that we think made rodents successful,” Esselstyn said. 
 
 In 2014, the scientists described the Sulawesi water rat, Waiomys mamasae, which was known to villagers and their guides but not to the scientific community. Villagers use this animal as a talisman to protect their homes against fire. 
 
 “Our guides didn’t tell us right away that they had caught it. We were asleep and they were up late at night discussing whether they should give it to us or keep it for themselves. We were very glad that they eventually decided to give it to us, because otherwise we would have left and never had known about this animal,” he said. 
 
 These animals Esselstyn and his colleagues have described are new species within new genera, because the animals could not be placed within any existing group. After sequencing the DNA from the specimens, the scientists had the molecular evidence to confirm the species’ unique distinctions. ||||| As rats go, this one is pretty cute. And until Tuesday, the world was oblivious to its existence. But thanks to the fieldwork of a research team from Australia, Indonesia and America the 250-gram animal has been discovered in the remote, high-altitude jungle of Sulawesi, Indonesia. 
 
 Described for the first time in the Journal of Mammalogy, this new species of mammal is so unique that it also represents a new genus. 
 
 Museum Victoria mammalogist Kevin Rowe, a member of the team that found the rat in 2013, said among the distinct features were its very small mouth, large white front teeth, big ears and noticeably long pubic hairs. 
 
 Dr Kevin Rowe of the Museum Victoria, with a specimen of the newly discovered mammal species, the hog-nosed rat, found in Indonesia. Photo: Eddie Jim 
 
 "It was exciting as I knew immediately that we had a new species," Dr Rowe said. "I am still amazed that we can walk into a forest and find a new species of mammal that is so obviously different from any species, or even genus, that has ever been documented by science." 
 
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 While scientists are yet to observe a live hog-nosed rat, the five specimens caught in overnight traps boast long hind limbs similar to a bandicoot, suggesting it might hop, and long pubic hairs not seen in rats but featured on an Australian hopping mammal, the potoroo. 
 
 The mouth can hardly open suggesting the carnivorous rat 'slurps' up its food - most likely earthworms, beetle larvae and other invertebrates. 
 
 Meet the newest mammal discovered: the hog-nosed rat from Indonesia. Photo: Museum Victoria 
 
 "It looks like it's whistling all the time," Dr Rowe said. 
 
 While the 40-45 centimetre animal's unique anatomy was evidence it was a new species, genetic testing confirmed it was also a new genus. 
 
 The hog-nosed rat was found in the cool but humid moss forests of Sulawesi's northern peninsula, 1600 metres above sea level. The nearest village is a two-hour hike away and even that village is considered remote. 
 
 The pig-like nose with forward-facing nostrils inspired its Greek-in-origin genus name: Hyorhinomys ('hyo' meaning hog, 'rhino' meaning nose and 'mys' meaning rat). 
 
 Named by the discovery team from Museum Victoria, Indonesia's Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense and the Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science, the rat's scientific name is Hyorhinomys stuempkei. 
 
 Dr Rowe said the rat's closest relative was a group of shrew rats found on Sulawesi but that they were not closely related. All rats and mice evolved 25 million years ago, of which there are about 1500 known species. 
 
 Geologically isolated, Sulawesi has not been connected to Australia or Asia for 10 million years. The fieldwork is part of a wider project to document and establish the area's biodiversity, long considered a hot spot of endemic species. ||||| Abstract 
 
 We document a new genus and species of shrew rat from the north peninsula of Sulawesi Island, Indonesia. The new taxon is known only from the type locality at 1,600 m elevation on Mt. Dako, in the district of Tolitoli. It is distinguished from all other Indonesian murines by its large, flat, pink nose with forward-facing nares. Relative to other Sulawesi murines, the species has extremely large ears (~ 21% of head and body length), very long urogenital hairs, prominent and medially bowing hamular processes on the pterygoid bones, extremely long and procumbent lower incisors, and unusually long articular surfaces on the mandibular condyles. Morphologically, the new taxon is most similar to a group of endemic Sulawesi rats known commonly as “shrew rats.” These are long faced, carnivorous murines, and include the genera Echiothrix, Melasmothrix, Paucidentomys, Sommeromys, and Tateomys. Our Bayesian and likelihood analyses of DNA sequences concatenated from 5 unlinked loci infer the new shrew rat as sister to a clade consisting of Melasmothrix, Paucidentomys, and Echiothrix, suggesting that Sulawesi shrew rats represent a clade. The Sulawesi water rat, Waiomys mamasae, was sister to the shrew rats in our analyses. Discovery of this new genus and species brings known shrew rat diversity on Sulawesi to 6 genera and 8 species. The extent of morphological diversity among these animals is remarkable considering the small number of species currently known. 
 
 Kami mendokumentasikan genus dan spesies baru tikus cucurut dari bagian semenanjung utara pulau Sulawesi, Indonesia. Takson baru ini hanya diketahui dari lokasi spesimen tipe pada ketinggian 1,600 mdpl di Gunung Dako, Kabupaten Tolitoli. Ia dibedakan dari spesies tikus Indonesia lainnya berdasarkan ukuran hidung yang besar, datar, berwarna merah muda dengan moncong hidung menghadap ke arah depan. Jika dibandingkan dengan spesies tikus Sulawesi lainnya, spesies ini memiliki telinga yang sangat besar (~ 21% dari panjang kepala dan badan), rambut urogenital yang sangat panjang, prosesus hamular yang jelas dan menonjol pada pertulangan pterygoid, gigi seri bagian bawah yang sangat panjang, dan penampang persendian yang panjang dan tidak biasa pada kondilus mandibula. Secara morfologi, takson ini lebih mirip dengan kelompok tikus endemik Sulawesi yang umumnya dikenal sebagai “tikus cucurut”. Kelompok ini dicirikan dengan mulut yang panjang, pemakan daging, dan termasuk didalamnya adalah genus Echiothrix, Melasmothrix, Paucidentomys, Sommeromys, dan Tateomys. Analisis Bayesian dan likelihood menggunakan sambungan sekuens DNA dari 5 lokus yang tidak terpaut menunjukkan spesies tikus cucurut baru ini berkerabat dekat dengan kelompok yang terdiri dari Melasmothrix, Paucidentomys, dan Echiothrix, memberi kesan tikus cucurut Sulawesi merepresentasikan suatu clade atau kelompok tersendiri. Tikus air Sulawesi, Waiomys mamasae, diketahui berkerabat dekat dengan tikus cucurut dalam analisis yang dilakukan. Penemuan genus dan spesies baru ini menambah keanekaragaman jenis tikus cucurut di Sulawesi yang telah diketahui menjadi 6 genera dan 8 spesies. Besarnya perbedaan morfologi di antara spesies-spesies tersebut merupakan sesuatu yang luar biasa mengingat sedikitnya jumlah spesies yang telah diketahui saat ini.
– A newly found creature's name is the hog-nosed rat, and things don't get any more picturesque from there. Reporting on their find in the Journal of Mammalogy, scientists describe the animal, found in 2013 on Mount Dako, on Indonesia's Sulawesi Island: It's a long-faced carnivorous creature with "extremely large ears (~21% of head and body length) [and] very long urogenital hairs"—the latter being pubic hairs. Co-author Kevin Rowe tells Mashable Australia that it's unclear what purpose the hair serves, though "it probably helps it in some kind of reproductive way. Both males and females have those long ... hairs, like whiskers. They're not like human pubic hairs." Among its other features: Rowe explains that the 18-inch-long rat's mouth opening is so narrow that it can't open it much. "It probably eats worms and insect larvae, just kind of slurping them up." (In line with that slurping, it also lacks the coronoid process on the dentary bone, which other mammals rely on to chew.) KNOE reports it's the third genus newly identified by the international team since 2012 (here's another of the team's finds), and recalls the moment the rat was found—twice. Rowe, of Museum Victoria, and LSU Museum of Natural Science Curator of Mammals Jake Esselstyn went to check their respective traps, saw what was clear to them was a new species, "came back to camp and were both surprised that the other one had it as well." The rodent was given the name Hyorhinomys stuempkei, which the Age translates from the Greek as "'hyo' meaning hog, 'rhino' meaning nose and 'mys' meaning rat." (Another unusual animal-related find: a mysterious, giant, jellylike "thing.")