Rattus praetor Thomas 1888

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Rodentia - Family Muridae, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 2, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 1189-1531 : 1482

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.7316535

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11335534

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/855D65B2-4CF1-A2D0-EE06-1AB8830E8807

treatment provided by

Guido

scientific name

Rattus praetor Thomas 1888
status

 

Rattus praetor Thomas 1888 View in CoL

Rattus praetor Thomas 1888 View in CoL , Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 1, 2: 158.

Type Locality: Solomon Isls, Guadalcanal Isl, Aola.

Vernacular Names: Large New Guinea Spiny Rat.

Synonyms: Rattus bandiculus Thomas 1922 ; Rattus coenorum Thomas 1922 ; Rattus mediocris Troughton 1936 ; Rattus purdiensis Troughton 1946 ; Rattus sansapor Troughton 1946 ; Rattus tramitius Thomas 1922 ; Rattus utakwa Ellerman 1941 .

Distribution: New Guinea; on the mainland north of the Central Cordillera from Vogelkop Peninsula throughout N New Guinea to about the Sepik-Ramu drainage in Papua New Guinea, and south of the Cordillera to W Prov. of Papua (= Irian Jaya); sea level to 1900 m; absent from the Trans-Fly region and E Papua New Guinea. Living populations also recorded from Manus Isl in Admiralty Isls; Bougainville and Guadalcanal Isls in the Solomon Isls; Karkar Isl, Blup Blup Isl, Bat Isl, New Britain Isl, and New Ireland Isl in the Bismarck Arch.; and Salawati and Gebe islands off the western tip of Prov. of Papua (= Irian Jaya); found as fossils only on Nissan and Tikopia islands in the Solomons (Emmons and Kinbag, 2001; Flannery, 1995 a, b; Flannery and White, 1991; Taylor et al., 1982). Also recorded from Fiji Isl as a subfossil (K. Aplin, in litt., 2004).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Rattus leucopus species group. In Tate's (1951) monograph, this species was listed as a subspecies of R. ruber ; the holotype of ruber is an example of the introduced R. nitidus ( Taylor et al., 1983, summarized the taxonomic history). According to Flannery (1995 b:159), R. praetor "has been introduced prehistorically into most of its insular distribution, reaching New Ireland by 3500 year ago... and the Solomon Islands soon after." Reviewed by Flannery (1995 a, b).

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Rodentia

Family

Muridae

Genus

Rattus

Loc

Rattus praetor Thomas 1888

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn 2005
2005
Loc

Rattus praetor

Thomas 1888: 158
1888
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