Mountain viscacha rat
Octomys mimax Thomas, 1920
The mountain viscacha rat (Octomys mimax) is a species in the family Octodontidae, order Rodentia. Recorded adults weigh 121.5 g to 131 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
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Quick facts about the mountain viscacha rat
- Weight
- 121.5 g – 131 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Herbivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the mountain viscacha rat live?
Not recorded
What is the mountain viscacha rat?
The mountain viscacha rat or mountain vizcacha rat (Octomys mimax), historically viscacha rat or vizcacha rat, is a species of rodent in the family Octodontidae. It is endemic to Argentina.
It is the only living species within the genus Octomys. This diploid genus (2n = 56) may be ancestral to the two unusual suspected tetraploid species Tympanoctomys barrerae and Pipanacoctomys aureus. However, some genetic studies have rejected any polyploidism in mammals as unlikely, and suggests that amplification and dispersion of repetitive sequences best explain the large genome size.
From the Wikipedia article “Mountain viscacha rat” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mountain_viscacha_rat&oldid=1382798533), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the mountain viscacha rat endangered?
The mountain viscacha rat is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the mountain viscacha rat classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderRodentia
- familyOctodontidae
- genusOctomys
- SpeciesOctomys mimax Thomas, 1920
Other names and names in other languages (11)
- Common viscacha ratEnglish
- Mountain viscacha-ratEnglish
- Mountain vizcacha ratEnglish
- Viscacha ratEnglish
- Viscacha ratEnglish
- Viscacha ratEnglish
- Rata vizcachaSpanish
- andienviskatsarottaFinnish
- ビスカーチャネズミJapanese
- pseudowiskacz stokowyPolish
- Вискашёвая крысаRussian
Relatives of the mountain viscacha rat
Other species in the same family Octodontidae.
Common degu
Octodon degus
Coruro
Spalacopus cyanus
Mountain degu
Octodontomys gliroides
Chilean rock rat
Aconaemys fuscus
Plains viscacha rat
Tympanoctomys barrerae
Sage's rock rat
Aconaemys sagei
CompareMountain viscacha rat vs Common deguMountain viscacha rat vs CoruroMountain viscacha rat vs Mountain deguMountain viscacha rat vs Chilean rock rat
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the mountain viscacha rat?
An adult mountain viscacha rat weighs 121.5 g – 131 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the mountain viscacha rat endangered?
The mountain viscacha rat is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
What kind of animal is the mountain viscacha rat?
The mountain viscacha rat (Octomys mimax) belongs to the family Octodontidae in the order Rodentia.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Mountain viscacha rat (Octomys mimax). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/mountain-viscacha-rat
“Mountain viscacha rat (Octomys mimax).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/mountain-viscacha-rat.
@misc{mountain_viscacha_rat_2026,
title = {Mountain viscacha rat (Octomys mimax)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/mountain-viscacha-rat},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}