<p>The foot-long creature, referred to as a white-spotted mountain rat or "Drymoreomys albimaculatus," lives at an altitude of 1,000 meters in mountain ranges in southeast Brazil, biologist Alexandre Percequillo told Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper.<br /><br />"An evolutionary mystery hangs over this rodent species because the closest species to him lives in an arid valley of the Peruvian Andes," said Percequillo, a researcher with the University of Sao Paulo who described the new species in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.<br /><br />"The fact that both species belong to groups typical of mountain regions may explain their similarity," Percequillo said.<br /><br />The rodent has "pads" on the bottom of its feet and between its fingers, allowing it to negotiate tree branches, from which it hangs.<br /><br />It is too early to determine if the species is threatened by extinction, according to Percequillo.<br /><br />The Atlantic Forest, which at one time covered 15 percent of Brazil, has been greatly reduced. Its destruction is blamed on urbanization, farming and logging, among other things.</p>
<p>The foot-long creature, referred to as a white-spotted mountain rat or "Drymoreomys albimaculatus," lives at an altitude of 1,000 meters in mountain ranges in southeast Brazil, biologist Alexandre Percequillo told Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper.<br /><br />"An evolutionary mystery hangs over this rodent species because the closest species to him lives in an arid valley of the Peruvian Andes," said Percequillo, a researcher with the University of Sao Paulo who described the new species in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.<br /><br />"The fact that both species belong to groups typical of mountain regions may explain their similarity," Percequillo said.<br /><br />The rodent has "pads" on the bottom of its feet and between its fingers, allowing it to negotiate tree branches, from which it hangs.<br /><br />It is too early to determine if the species is threatened by extinction, according to Percequillo.<br /><br />The Atlantic Forest, which at one time covered 15 percent of Brazil, has been greatly reduced. Its destruction is blamed on urbanization, farming and logging, among other things.</p>