It is the largest rat in Taiwan. It has coarse black hairs on its back and occurs in lowland farmland, including rice and sugarcane fields there.
Taiwan records describe long, coarse black hairs on the back and a thick tail with visible scales.
In Taiwan’s lowlands it lives in wasteland and farmland, and may gather in rice and sugarcane fields. It eats roots and stems and digs burrows.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.