Communication in this species is varied, and entails some chemical, tactile, visual, and accoustic components. Scent marking is sexually dimorphic in N. lepida. Males exhibit ventral rubbing more commonly than do females. Females exhibit rolling more than do males. Rubbing may occur in response to odors of conspecifics, after a male encounters a female, or in ares soiled by other individuals. Mates may communicate by intense sniffing, vocalization, hop and dart, and ear-wiggling responses, grooming, and foot thumping.
Communication Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
Other Communication Modes: pheromones ; scent marks ; vibrations
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; vibrations ; chemical
Neotoma lepida is not thought to be endangered at all, and is not listed by CITES or IUCN.
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
Neotoma lepida is a known carrier of hantavirus.
Negative Impacts: injures humans (carries human disease)
Neotoma lepida provides no direct economic benefit to humans. They are indirectly important to humans through their ecosystem roles.
Neotoma lepida competes with cricetid and heteromyid rodents, and therefore probably limits their populations. Their houses provide shelter for many small vertebrates. Because this species provides foodto snakes, owls, and many predatory mammals, it may influence their populations as well.
Ecosystem Impact: disperses seeds; creates habitat; soil aeration
Neotoma lepida is a follivorous/granivorous species. Food consists of buds, fruits, bark, leaves, and young shoots of many plant species. These rats move from their shelters to feeding areas, but carry food back to the shelters to consume it in safety. The paths that desert woodrats take to their food sources are often made up of boulders, which helps to conceal these animals from predators.
In coastal scrub habitat, preferred foods of N. lepida are live oak, chamise, and buckwheat. In the Mojave Desert, N. lepida prefers creosote, cholla, and prickly pear. These rats prefer mormon-tea, rattlesnake weed, mustard, sagebrush, and buckwheat in the juniper-sagebrush habitats.
Plant Foods: leaves; wood, bark, or stems; seeds, grains, and nuts; fruit; flowers
Primary Diet: herbivore (Folivore , Granivore )
Neotoma lepida is found from southwestern Idaho and southeastern Oregon south through Nevada and western Utah. Neotoma lepida is also found in southern California, including the coastal region, and along the Baja California peninsula. Desert woodrats also occur on several islands in the Gulf of California.
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native )
Other Geographic Terms: island endemic
Neotoma lepida is often found in areas with succulent vegetation, which may be used as a water source. They prefer habitats with moderate to dense canopies. This species is found in juniper-sagebrush, creosote bush scrub, Joshua tree woodlands, scrub oak woodlands, and pinon-juniper woodlands. Neotoma lepida is abundant in rock outcrops, and rocky cliffs and slopes.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: desert or dune ; chaparral ; forest ; scrub forest
These animals apparently live around 3 years in the wild.
Average lifespan
Status: wild: 3 years.
Range lifespan
Status: captivity: 10.5 (high) years.
Dorsal pelage of N. lepida ranges from pale, buffy-gray to dark-gray, and from cinnamon to black. The underside of N. lepida is white, as are the feet and throat. The tail is markedly bi-colored.
Neotoma lepida has a slender rostrum, and a narrow skull interorbitally. Neotoma lepida has no frontoparietal ridges, and the incisive foramina of this species are long and narrow.
N. lepida has a dental formula of 1/1, 0/0, 0/0, 3/3 = 16. The cheek teeth are hypsodont, and flat crowned.
The manus of N. lepida has 4 digits, and the pes has 5 digits.
Most body dimensions of N. lepida are sexually dimorphic. The total length feamles ranges from 281 to 392 mm, with males showing greater variation, and ranging in length from 276 to 407 mm. The tail length of females ranges from 122 to 192 mm, whereas males have a slightly longer tail of 129 to 198 mm. Hind foot lengths for females range from 27 to 38 mm. Males have hind foot lengths ranging from 28 to 38 mm. Ear length of females ranges from 27 to 38 mm, and of males ranges from 28 to 38 mm. Females weigh less than males, ranging from 122 to 240 g compared to the 132 to 350 g weight of males.
Range mass: 122 to 350 g.
Range length: 287 to 401 mm.
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; homoiothermic; bilateral symmetry
Sexual Dimorphism: male larger
Average basal metabolic rate: 0.46 W.
Neotoma lepida uses the cover of its house, or hides in boulders to escape predation. The main predators of N. lepida are coyotes (Canis latrans), swift fox (Vulpes velox), red-tailed hawks (Buteo jamaicensis), and great-horned owls (Bubo virginianus). N. lepida may also fall victim to conspecifics.
Known Predators:
Sexual behavior in males requires that the females both emit attractive odors and engage in precopulatory behaviors. Mates may communicate by intense sniffing, vocalization, hop and dart and ear-wiggling responses, grooming, and foot thumping. Males show a pattern of multiple mounts and ejaculation. Although not specifically reported, the sexual dimorphism of these animals suggests that mating is polygynous.
Neotoma lepida breeds from October to May. The gestation period is 30 to 36 days, with an average litter size of 2.7 young. Although these animals have been observed to be polyestrous in lab, They probably breed only once per year in the wild. Weaning occurs between 27 to 40 days of age, and reproductive maturity is reached by 2 to 3 months of age.
Breeding interval: Desert woodrats breed once yearly in the wild.
Breeding season: Breeding occurs between October and May.
Average number of offspring: 2.7.
Range gestation period: 30 to 36 days.
Range weaning age: 27 to 40 days.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 2 to 3 months.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 2 to 3 months.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; fertilization ; viviparous
Average birth mass: 8.45 g.
Average number of offspring: 3.
Nesting is solitary for N. lepida. Nests are made of dried vegetation. Females have a strong maternal instinct, and will readily accept orphaned young. Lactating females have been observed to be much more aggressive to intruders than males or non-lactating females. The role of males in parental care has not been documented.
Parental Investment: no parental involvement; altricial ; pre-fertilization (Protecting: Female); pre-hatching/birth (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female); pre-weaning/fledging (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female); pre-independence (Protecting: Female)
