Laotian rock rat

Laotian rock rat
Young male
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Diatomyidae
Genus:	Laonastes Jenkins, Kilpatrick, Robinson & Timmins, 2005
Species:	L. aenigmamus
Binomial name
Laonastes aenigmamus Jenkins, Kilpatrick, Robinson & Timmins, 2005

The Laotian rock rat or kha-nyou (Laonastes aenigmamus, Lao: ຂະຍຸ), is a rodent species of the Khammouan area of Laos, first named in 2005.

Related pages

• Living fossil

References

Further reading

• Wilson, D. E. & Reeder, D. M. (1993): Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. Washington D.C., Smithsonian Institution Press.
• Herbreteau, V., V. Nicolas, R. Cornette, and J. P. Hugot. 2006. Une récente découverte au Laos: le Kha-nyou rongeur énigmatique. Le Courrier de la Nature 213:28–33.
• Keovichit K, Nicolas V., Hugot J-P., 2011. Laonastes aenigmamus, an enigmatic rodent recently discovered in Laos. Bull. Acad. Vet., France 164, 135–140.
• Rivière-Dobigny T, Herbreteau V, Keovichit K, Douangboupha B, Morand S, Michaux J and Hugot JP. 2011. Highly divergent lineages within the recently described rodent species Laonastes aenigmamus. Implications for its conservation. Journal of Mammalogy 92 (3): 620–628.
• Herrel A, A-C Fabre, JP Hugot, K Keovichit, D Adriaens, L Brabant, L Hoorebeke and R Cornette, 2012. Ontogeny of the cranial system in Laonastes aenigmamus. J. Anat. 221:128–137 doi:10.1111/j.1469-7580.2012.01519.x
• "Oddball Rodent" Found (in Plain View) Is Called New to Science
• Carnegie Museum Press Release: "New family of mammal really living fossil" with images
• Environment News Service: "Rodent Discovered in Laos Defines New Family of Mammals" contains photos
• Retired Professor Captures A 'Living Fossil' – Laotian Rock Rat Once Believed To Have Gone Extinct Florida State University (ScienceDaily) June 14, 2006

Other websites

• Media related to Laonastes aenigmamus at Wikimedia Commons
• Data related to Laonastes aenigmamus at Wikispecies
• Tel Aviv University gene study supports "living fossil" hypothesis

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