Rattus lutreolus imbil Troughton, 1937b

Aust. Zool. 8(4): 283. (12 March 1937).

Common name. Swamp Rat.

Current name. Rattus lutreolus lutreolus (J. Gray, 1841), following Taylor & Horner (1973).

Holotype. M.6228 by original designation. Male adult, [Field no. 12B1], skull, study skin, collected by W.A. MacDougall, registered 16 November 1936, collection date not given.

Condition. Cranium, fracture in right zygomatic arch; right dentary missing coronoid process; left dentary complete. Study skin: bald patch on right shoulder area, bald patch on left side of abdomen, bald patch on left flank.

Type locality. Imbil, Gympie district, Qld, Australia.

Paratype. M.6444 by subsequent determination. Female, [Field no. 12B2], body in alc., collected at Imbil, presented by W. A. MacDougall, collection date not given, presented in November 1936, registered March 1938.

Comments. In the original description, Troughton (1937b: 282) states that a male and female were received from Imbil, but only the holotype male is mentioned in the description. The female is M.6444 and although not registered until after the paper was published, the register entry for this specimen refers to the same letter of 1936 as for the holotype; the card index for M.6444 has in Troughton’s handwriting “To be designated Allotype in later paper”, which apparently was never published. In the AM annual report, Troughton (1938) states that the “typical specimens” were lodged in the AM. Not subsequently recognized as a valid subspecies by Troughton (1965b).