It builds lots of branches, spinach cactus and other punching materials stacked with method, popularly known as field rat houses, true plant fortresses that protect its central nest from most predators incapable of crossing that spinach barrier. It lives in the arid and semi-arid meadow of northeast Mexico, where these constructions can reach more than a meter in height and are reused and expanded by successive generations of the same family. Its name alleges to the state of Tamaulipas, in whose arid areas it was documented for the first time, although its real distribution extends somewhat beyond that state.
A medium-sized rodent, robust body, gray brown fur in the back and clearer in the belly, large eyes and moderately long and furry tail. It differs from other field rats in the northeastern region of Mexico mainly by cranial details; its presence is more easily identified by its characteristic spinal branches than by direct observation of the animal.
Fingerprint with 4 front fingers and 5 rear fingers, 2-2.5 cm behind. Round and enlarged feces, 8-10 mm, left in small pits near the entrance of the shelter. The most unmistakable sign is their own home: a mount of branches, spinal cactus and other stacked punching plant material, up to 1 m high and several meters in diameter at the base, with several hidden entrances between the thorns and a central nest of soft material.
Matorral arid and semi-arid, with the presence of column cactus and spinach shrubs, from low lands to transition zones to mountain mattress. Distributed in northeast Mexico, mainly in the state of Tamaulipas and neighboring areas.
Herbivorous, it feeds on leaves, tender stems, cactus fruit and seeds of the arid straw where it lives.
Solitary and territorial, he builds andins a shelter mountain that can be inherited and expanded by successive generations of the same family line.
Its populations are generally considered stable in much of its area of distribution, although in local decline due to the transformation of native dirt in some areas of northeastern Mexico.
Transformation of native dirt by agricultural and livestock expansion in some areas of northeastern Mexico.
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