Okinawa Island Spiny Rat

Open encyclopedia reference

Muennink's spiny rat or Okinawa spiny rat (Tokudaia muenninki, Japanese: オキナワトゲネズミ, romanized: Okinawa togenezumi or 沖縄棘鼠) is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. Endemic to Okinawa Island, Japan, its natural habitat is subtropical moist broadleaf forest. The karyotype has 2n = 44. Its sex chromosomes are abnormally large, while the other two species in Tokudaia have lost their Y chromosome. It is found only on the northern part (Yanbaru area) of the island, above 300 m, and is thought to inhabit an area of less than 3 km2. The head and body are up to 7 inches long with a 5-inch tail. They weigh up to 7 ounces. They have a short thick body and dense fur, consisting of fine hairs and coarse, grooved spines (hence the common name "spiny rat"). The fur is brownish above and grayish white below with a faint orange tinge. The spines on the animal's back are black throughout while the spines underneath are usually white with a reddish-brown tip.

Wikipedia contributors, Muennink's spiny rat; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T12:39:53.570669+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Tokudaia muenninki (Johnson, 1946)

Name authority

(Johnson, 1946)

Common name

Okinawa Island Spiny Rat

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Rodentia

Family

Muridae

Genus

Tokudaia

Extinction status

Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
9. subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
10. infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
11. orderRodentia Bowdich, 1821
12. suborderMyomorpha Brandt, 1855
13. superfamilyMuroidea Illiger, 1811
14. familyMuridae Illiger, 1811
15. subfamilyMurinae Illiger, 1811
16. genusTokudaia Kuroda, 1943
17. speciesTokudaia muenninki (Johnson, 1946)

Close classified relatives

No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.

Browse 672 records assigned to Muridae.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=585600 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:57BC9. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.