Rattus gestri aramia Troughton, 1937a

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 : 374

Rattus gestri aramia Troughton, 1937a

Rec. Aust. Mus. 20(2): 119. (27 August 1937).

Common name. Dusky Field Rat.

Current name. Rattus sordidus aramia Troughton, 1937a ; following Taylor et al. (1982) and Musser & Carleton (2005). Aplin & Helgen et al. (2016) caution that R. sordidus (Gould, 1858) might represent more than one species. Robins et al. (2014) provided evidence that gestri represents a full species but they did not determine whether aramia belonged with sordidus or gestri .

Holotype. M.4893 by original designation.Adult male, skull ( Fig. 44 ), study skin, collected on [26 December 1922] by Allan R. McCulloch; registered on 7 March 1930. Metal tag stamped “45” tied to skin is possibly collector’s number.

Condition. Cranium, with hole in left auditory bulla; left dentary missing coronoid process; right dentary complete. Study skin: tail tip is detached, otherwise skin in good condition but excessive anterior body stuffing does not reflect life-like proportions.

Type locality. [Totani village], “Aramia Lakes district near the mouth of the Aramia River in the Western Division of Papua”, Western Province, Papua New Guinea.

Paratype. M.4895 by original designation. Young adult female (allotype), skull, study skin, same details as holotype.

Comments. The type series apparently consists of two specimens, obtained on Frank Hurley’s second expedition to Papua New Guinea .

Figures

Figure 44. AM M.4893, holotype skull of Rattus gestri aramia Troughton, 1937a. (Photography by Stuart Humphreys).