Species Rattus rattus (Linnaeus, 1758)

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CAVS: 1408

Species Rattus rattus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Black Rat

Mus rattus Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundem classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima, reformata. Holmiae : Laurentii Salvii Vol. 1 10, 824 pp. [61].
Type data:
Syntype(s) whereabouts unknown (not found in ZIUU or NHRM), 'domibus Europae'; Thomas (1911: 147) identified the type locality as 'Sweden (Upsala)'.
Type locality references:
Thomas, O. 1911. The mammals of the tenth edition of Linnaeus; an attempt to fix the types of the genera and the exact bases and localities of the species. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1911: 120-158.
Mus alexandrinus Geoffroy [Saint-Hilaire], É. 1803. Catalogue des Mammifères du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle. 272 pp. [publication date established from Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, J., Prévost, F. & Pucheran. 1951. Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle de Paris. Catalogue Méthodique de la Collection des Mammifères de la Collection des Oiseaux et des Collections Annexes. Paris : Gide & Baudry xv+x 96 pp. [v of introduction]] [192] [recorded from Australia by Longman, H.A. 1916. Notes on classification of Common rodents with list of Australian species. Commonwealth of Australia Quarantine Service. Service Publication Number 8. Melbourne : Govt. Printer 28 pp. 8 pls [13]].
Type data:

Syntype(s) MNHP 1007 skin with skull not extracted (Rode (1945: 31) identified MNHP 1007 as the 'Holotype' of M. alexandrinus), Egypt (as L'Égypte); Hinton (1918: 63) identifies the type locality as Alexandria, Egypt; whereabouts unknown (other syntype not found in MNHP), Egypt (as L'Égypte); Hinton (1918: 63) identifies the type locality as Alexandria, Egypt.
Type locality references:
Hinton, M.A.C. 1918. Scientific results from the Mammal Survey No. XVIII. Report on the house rats of India, Burma and Ceylon. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 126: 59-88; Rode, P. 1945. Catalogue des types de mammifères du Museéum National d'Histoire Naturelle. Ordre des rongeurs (Suite). Bulletin du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris [published 1907-1971] 2 17: 24-31.
Secondary source:
Longman, H.A. 1916. Notes on classification of Common rodents with list of Australian species. Commonwealth of Australia Quarantine Service. Service Publication Number 8. Melbourne : Govt. Printer 28 pp. 8 pls.
Musculus frugivorus Rafinesque-Schmaltz, C.S. 1814. Précis des découvertes et travaux somiologiques de M. r. C. S. Rafinesque-Schmaltz entre 1800 et 1814. Ou choix raisonné de ses principales découvertes en zoologie et en botanique, pour servir d'introduction à ses ouvrages futurs. Palermo : Royale Typographie Militaire 55 pp. + errata. [13] [recorded from Australia by Hinton, M.A.C. (as Barrett-Hamilton, G.E.H. & Hinton, M.A.C.) 1916. A History of British Mammals. Pt XIX. London : Gurney & Jackson 601–648 pls 33–34 pp. [602]].
Type data:
Syntype(s) whereabouts unknown, Sicily (as Sicile), Italy.
Secondary source:
Hinton, M.A.C. (as Barrett-Hamilton, G.E.H. & Hinton, M.A.C.) 1916. A History of British Mammals. London : Gurney & Jackson Vol. 19 601-648 pp. 33-34 pls.
Mus rufescens Gray, J.E. 1837. Description of some new or little known Mammalia, principally in the British Museum Collection. Magazine of Natural History ns 1: 577-587 [Date published Nov. 1837: publication date established from Thomas, O. 1888. Catalogue of the Marsupialia and Monotremata in the Collection of the British Museum (Natural History). London : British Museum xiii 401 pp. 28 pls [3 Nov. 1888]] [585] [recorded from Australia by Collett (1897: 323); as Mus rattus rufescens Gray, 1837].
Type data:
Holotype BMNH 44.9.15.2 skin & skull, unspecified locality by Gray, loc. cit., who does not mention a locality for M. rufescens beyond saying that it is an 'Indian' species; Ellerman (1951 582) identified the type locality as Dharwar, India.
Type locality references:
Ellerman, J.R. 1951. Order Rodentia in Ellerman, J.R. & Morrison-Scott, T.C.S. Checklist of Palaearctic and Indian Mammals 1758 to 1946. London : British Museum 456-712 pp.
Secondary source:
Collett, R. 1897. On a collection of mammals from north and north-west Australia. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1897: 317-336 pl. 23 [1 Aug. 1897].
Hapalotis arboricola Gould, J. 1863. The Mammals of Australia. London : J. Gould Part 13. [xxxv].
Type data:
Holotype whereabouts unknown (not found in AM; the holotype is Hapalotis arboricola specimen a of Krefft, G. 1864. Catalogue of Mammalia in the Collection of the Australian Museum. Sydney : Australian Museum 136 pp. [66]), Elizabeth Bay, Sydney, NSW.
Mus (Hapalotis) tompsoni Ramsay, E.P. 1882. Description of a supposed new species of rat from the interior of New South Wales. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 6: 763-765 [publication date established from Fletcher, J.J. 1896. On the dates of publication of the early volumes of the Society's Proceedings. Proc. Linn. Soc. NSW 2 10: 533–536 [535]] [763] [as Mu. (Hapalotis?) tompsoni].
Type data:
Holotype MMUS M787 ♂ skin wet, skull not extracted (a label with MMUS M787 identified this specimen as the type; Ramsay, op. cit., calls the holotype a female, but MMUS M787 is a male; Waterview was the Wagga Wagga residence of Mr F.A. Thompson, see Swan, K. 1970. A History of Wagga Wagga. Wagga Wagga : City of Wagga Wagga xxiv 218 pp. 36 pls [37]), Waterview, Wagga Wagga (as Waterview near Wagga Wagga), NSW.
Mus griseocaeruleus Higgins, E.T. & Petterd, W.F. 1883. Descriptions of hitherto undescribed Antechini and Muridae inhabiting Tasmania. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania 1882: 171-176 1 pl. [publication date established from Anon. 1953. Annual Report, 1952. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania 87: ii–viii [vi]] [173].
Type data:
Syntype(s) whereabouts unknown (not preserved, see Lord, C.E. 1918. Notes on the mammals of Tasmania. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania 1918: 16–52 [25–26] and Lord, C.E. & Scott, H.H. 1924. A Synopsis of the Vertebrate Animals of Tasmania. Hobart : Oldham, Beddome & Meredith 340 pp. 41 pls [300]), Deloraine, Kentishbury & Launceston, TAS.
Mus variabilis Higgins, E.T. & Petterd, W.F. 1883. Descriptions of hitherto undescribed Antechini and Muridae inhabiting Tasmania. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania 1882: 171-176 1 pl. [publication date established from Anon. 1953. Annual Report, 1952. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania 87: ii–viii [vi]] [174].
Type data:
Syntype(s) whereabouts unknown ♂ ♀ (types not preserved, see Lord, C.E. 1918. Notes on the mammals of Tasmania. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania 1918: 16–52 [25–26] and Lord, C.E. & Scott, H.H. 1924. A Synopsis of the Vertebrate Animals of Tasmania. Hobart : Oldham, Beddome & Meredith 340 pp. 41 pls [300]), ?St Leonards, TAS.
Epimys chionogaster Lönnberg, E. 1916. Results of Dr. E. Mjöberg's Scientific Expeditions to Australia 1910–1913. II. Mammals from Queensland. 1. List of mammals. Kongliga Svenska Vetenskaps-Academiens Nya Handlingar, Stockholm 52(2): 3-11 [18 Jan. 1916] [6].
Type data:
Holotype NHRM A59/0417 ♂ skin & skull, Tolga, QLD (open forest land).

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

Mahoney, J.A. in Walton, D.W. (ed.) 1988. Zoological Catalogue of Australia Volume 5. Mammalia. Canberra : Australian Government Publishing Service x 274 pp. [Date published 13/Apr/1988] [186]

Generic Combinations

Rattus rattus (Linnaeus, 1758).

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Worldwide in tropics and warm temperate zones.

Introduced from Europe and the Orient.

IBRA and IMCRA regions (map not available)

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Dampierland (DL), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gawler (GAW), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Jarrah Forest (JF), King (KIN), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Stony Plains (STP), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT)