Neotoma lepida
desert woodrat

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. (Verts and Carraway, 2002)

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. (Brylski, 2000; Verts and Carraway, 2002)

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. (Verts and Carraway, 2002)

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. (Verts and Carraway, 2002)

N. lepida has a dental formula of 1/1, 0/0, 0/0, 3/3 = 16. The cheek teeth are hypsodont, and flat crowned. (Verts and Carraway, 2002)

The manus of N. lepida has 4 digits, and the pes has 5 digits. (Verts and Carraway, 2002)

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. (Verts and Carraway, 2002)

These animals apparently live around 3 years in the wild. (Egoscue, 1957)

Neotoma lepida is aggressively solitary, although this aggressiveness apparently increases when a female has young. These rats may defend succulent plants and other water sources against other species as well as conspecifics. (Brylski, 2000; Egoscue, 1957; Verts and Carraway, 2002)

These animals are active yearlong. They are mainly nocturnal, but can be crepuscular, and occasionally diurnal. Neotoma lepida is known to move around different amounts, depending on habitat, from 14 m per night in coastal sage scrub to 80 m per night in sagebrush-juniper habitats. (Brylski, 2000; Egoscue, 1957; Verts and Carraway, 2002)

Houses of desert woodrats are made from twigs, sticks, cactus parts, or rocks. They prefer to build houses in rock crevices, bases of cactus, or in the lower branches of trees. (Brylski, 2000; Egoscue, 1957; Verts and Carraway, 2002)

Home Range

The home range size has not been reported.

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. (Brylski, 2000; Flemming, Chee, and Vaccarino, 1981; Verts and Carraway, 2002)

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. (Brylski, 2000; Thompson, 1982; Verts and Carraway, 2002)

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. (Brylski, 2000; Thompson, 1982; Verts and Carraway, 2002)

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. (Brylski, 2000; Verts and Carraway, 2002)

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. (Brylski, 2000; Verts and Carraway, 2002)

Neotoma lepida is a known carrier of hantavirus. (Verts and Carraway, 2002)

Neotoma lepida provides no direct economic benefit to humans. They are indirectly important to humans through their ecosystem roles.

Neotoma lepida is not thought to be endangered at all, and is not listed by CITES or IUCN.