Vangunu giant rat

Uromys vika, also known as the Vangunu giant rat and locally known as the vika, is a giant species of rodent that lives in trees. It is in the family Muridae. The rat was discovered in the island of Vangunu in the Solomon Islands in 2015, after years of searching based on local stories, and described in 2017.Lavery, T. H.; Judge, H.; A new species of giant rat (Muridae, Uromys) from Vangunu, Solomon Islands, Journal of Mammalogy, gyx116, https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyx116 It was identified as a new species on the basis of its skull, skeleton and a detailed DNA analysis. 

Discovery and publication
In November 2015 a wildlife ranger (Hikuna Judge) from the Zaira Conservation Area, saw something (outside the conservation area): "a large rat, [falling] from a 10m tree felled by loggers. The fall killed the rat - but the ranger shipped it to the Queensland Museum, in Australia, where ... Lavery was a fellow". Tyrone Lavery and Hikuna Judge published a species description, in 2017.

Habitat
The rat fell of a tree, outside Zaira, a village on Vangunu Island.

The species is likely to be called critically endangered (as of 2017), because of the small amount of forest habitat (about 80 km2) remaining on the island and ongoing logging.

References

Category:Solomon Islands
Category:Old World rats and mice
Category:Mammals of Oceania