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| Distribution |
In NC, it occurs in the northern half of the mountains, apparently south only to Buncombe County. It also occurs in the Piedmont foothills, at least in the northern foothills. As this species was split off from the Eastern Woodrat fairly recently (2001), the southern extent of the Allegheny's range in the NC mountains is not clear, as the two species are practically identical visually.
A very small range, and only in the Appalachians -- northern NJ and northeastern PA, and formerly CT and NY, south to northern GA and western TN. |
| Abundance |
Rare to uncommon, but seemingly rather widespread, in the northern mountains; likely very rare in the Piedmont. |
| Seasonal Occurrence |
Active year-round. |
| Habitat |
Almost always in rocky areas in upland forests, typically where somewhat dry. These rocky places can be in natural talus slopes, boulders, rocks along forested streams, and even roadcuts. Most sites are in hardwood forests. |
| Behavior |
Mainly nocturnal. Woodrats are famous for building fairly large stick nests, mixed with leaves and other objects, and typically placed in a crevice between rocks. However, some nests are placed at the base of a tree or base of a cliff. Nests are often a foot or more high or across, and are often quite conspicuous, especially if shiny man-made objects are in the nest. |
| Comments |
This species is State listed as Special Concern. The northern populations (north of NC) are severely declining; it formerly occurred in CT and NY. No such declines have been noted in NC, but with climate change, the species might become less common in future years. In addition, this species and the similar Eastern Woodrat, which occurs immediately to the south in the mountains and foothills of NC, build very similar nests; as most reports of Alleghenies are of nests, species identification is based almost solely on geography, and not on specimens. This makes it nearly impossible to determine the range boundary between the two species.
NOTE: Because of the impossible nature of identifying a woodrat to species without a specimen or hand-examination of a live individual (or likelihood of geographic range), some records simply must be left unidentified. The website editors feel that a Photo record from Madison County, from March 2020, though accepted as Eastern Woodrat, must actually be treated as "Woodrat unidentified species", as both Eastern Woodrat and Allegheny Woodrat can potentially occur in Madison County. |
| Origin |
Native |
| NC List |
Official |
 State Rank |
S2S3 |
| State Status |
SC |
| Global Rank |
G3G4 |
| Federal Status |
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| subspecies |
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| other_comName |
Alleghany Woodrat, Appalachian Woodrat |
| synonym |
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