Manipur Bush Rat

The specimen has been described by Thomas (1886) as:

The head and body length of the largest specimen, a female, was 125 millimetres (4.9 in) long while the tail is 106 millimetres (4.2 in) long. Elsewhere, the head and body length has been given as head and body length as 95 to 140 millimetres (3.7 to 5.5 in), the tail length as 195 to 40 millimetres (7.7 to 1.6 in). The weight has been recorded as ranging from 41 to 77 grams (1.4 to 2.7 oz).

The species is endemic to northeast India, and has been recorded from several localities. These are: Angarakhata in Kamrup district (Assam), Bishnupur, Imphal, Senapati and Karong (specimen FMNH 76562) in Manipur. Originally thought to occur in Yunnan in China also, the Chinese animals have been reclassified as Hadromys yunnanensis Yang & Wang 1987. The fossil record shows that populations of the Manipur Bush Rat existed all over Thailand right down to the Thai-Malay border during the Pleistocene. During that time, the Indo-Malayan region may have had a cooler and drier climate with savanna-like regions. A related species is known from the Siwalik fossils from northern Pakistan. These findings indicate that Hadromys humei is probably a "relict" species. The Manipur bush rat occurs at medium altitudes from 900 to 1,300 m (3,000 to 4,300 ft) above sea level. It inhabits tropical evergreen, moist deciduous and evergreen forests and also found in secondary forests in northeastern India.