Rattus praetor Thomas 1888
Creators
Description
Rattus praetor Thomas 1888
Rattus praetor Thomas 1888, 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).
Notes
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Linked records
Additional details
Identifiers
Related works
- Is part of
- Book chapter: 10.5281/zenodo.7316535 (DOI)
- Book chapter: http://publication.plazi.org/id/A2267A57FF8A65DA07E1D2E970F9422A (URL)
- Is source of
- https://biodiversitypmc.sibils.org/collections/plazi/855D65B24CF1A2D0EE061AB8830E8807 (URL)
- https://www.gbif.org/species/231540081 (URL)
Biodiversity
References
- Troughton, E. L. G. 1936. A redescription of Solomys (" Mus ") salamonis Ramsay. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 61: 3 - 4.
- Ellerman, J. R. 1941. The families and genera of living rodents. Vol. II. Family Muridae. British Museum (Natural History), London, 690 pp.
- Flannery, T. F., and J. P. White. 1991. Animal translocation. Zoogeography of New Ireland mammals. National Geographic Research and Exploration, 7: 96 - 113.
- Taylor, J. M., J. H. Calaby, and H. M. Van Deusen. 1982. A revision of the genus Rattus (Rodentia, Muridae) in the New Guinean region. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 173: 177 - 336.
- Tate, G. H. H. 1951. Results of the Archbold Expeditions. No. 65. The rodents of Australia and New Guinea. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 97: 183 - 430.
- Taylor, J. M., J. H. Calaby, and S. C. Smith. 1983. Native Rattus, land bridges, and the Australian region. Journal of Mammalogy, 64: 463 - 475.