Rhynchomeles prattorum Thomas, 1920

Parnaby, Harry E., Ingleby, Sandy & Divljan, Anja, 2017, Type Specimens of Non-fossil Mammals in the Australian Museum, Sydney, Records of the Australian Museum 69 (5), pp. 277-420 : 318

Rhynchomeles prattorum Thomas, 1920

Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (ser. 9) 6: 430. (1 October 1920).

Common name. Seram Bandicoot.

Current name. Rhynchomeles prattorum Thomas, 1920 ; following Groves (2005c).

Paratype. M.29415, collectors no. 7, male, skull, study skin, collected by Pratt brothers in January 1920 from Mount Manusela , Seram Island , Maluku Province, Indonesia. Skin tag states “Alt. 6000 ft, trapped in heavy jungle”. Exchanged from BMNH August 1993, registered 12 October 1993, formally BMNH 1920.7 .26.33.

Comments. This specimen is from the original series of seven, all collected from the type locality by the Pratt brothers in 1920. The species does not seem to have been reported since. The specimen is considered to be a paratype rather than a referred specimen because Thomas based his species description on more than one individual, e.g., “a strongly contrasted white patch of very variable size on the chest”.