Mus fuscipes Waterhouse, 1839

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 : 407

Mus fuscipes Waterhouse, 1839

Zoology of the Voyage of HMS Beagle p. 66, pl. 25. (September 1839).

Common name. Australian Bush Rat.

Current name. Rattus fuscipes ( Waterhouse, 1839) , following Taylor & Horner (1973).

Material. PA.23, indeterminate sex, skull, study skin, registered in c. 1879 in the Palmer Register with original entry of Mus fuscipes “dry skin in bottle Gould’s type ” but without locality, collector or any other entries by Palmer. Taylor & Horner (1973) identified PA.23 as an example of R. lutreolus lutreolus (J. Gray, 1841) .

Condition. Incomplete cranium, missing most of braincase, zygomatic arches, both molar tooth rows and most of palate. Left dentary missing coronoid, condylar and angular processes; right dentary complete. Study skin: missing right proximal limb, missing tail tip, fracture in distal third of tail.

Comments. The entry made by E. Palmer in the Palmer Register that PA.23 was “Gould’s type” probably reflects the loose use of the term “type” by early AM staff because in plate and text Gould (1863b) attributes authorship of Mus fuscipes to Waterhouse. The skull of PA.23 was extracted from the skin in 1965 for the study by Taylor & Horner (1967), who designated a neotype for Rattus fuscipes and provide a detailed assessment of the issue. They believed that the specimen could have been the basis of Gould’s account and sketch of Mus fuscipes in his monograph. Taylor & Horner (1973) refer PA.23 (as AM 23) to R. lutreolus lutreolus and discuss the confusion surrounding the application and differing concepts of the names Mus fuscipes Waterhouse (now Rattus fuscipes fuscipes ), Mus assimilis Gould, 1858 (now Rattus fuscipes assimilis ) and Mus lutreolus J. Gray, 1841 (now Rattus lutreolus lutreolus ). They note that prior to Thomas (1906d), all authors followed the mistaken views of Gray and Gould in applying the name fuscipes to specimens of what are now recognized as Rattus lutreolus .