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CAVS: 1415

Species Hydromys chrysogaster Geoffroy, 1804

Water-rat

 

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

 

Distribution

States

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


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), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Jarrah Forest (JF), King (KIN), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), 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), Yalgoo (YAL)

Ecological Descriptors

Amphibious, burrower, inland salt marsh, lentic freshwater, lotic freshwater, necrophagous, noctidiurnal, predator, subtropical, supralittoral.

 

General References

Barrow, G.J. 1964. Hydromys chrysogaster —some observations. Queensland Naturalist 17: 43-44

Baverstock, P.R., Watts, C.H.S., Adams, M. & Cole, S.R. 1981. Genetical relationships among Australian rodents (Muridae). Australian Journal of Zoology 29: 289-303

Baverstock, P.R., Watts, C.H.S. & Hogarth, J.T. 1977. Chromosome evolution in Australian rodents I. The Pseudomyinae, the Hydromyinae and the Uromys/Melomys Group. Chromosoma (Berlin) 61: 95-125

Breed, W.J. & Sarafis, V. 1979. On the phylogenetic significance of spermatozoal morphology and male reproductive tract anatomy in Australian rodents. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 103: 127-135

Faithfull, I. 1987. The water rat Hydromys chrysogaster in Melbourne. Victorian Naturalist 104: 186

Fanning, F.D. & Dawson, T.D. 1980. Body temperature variability in the Australian water rat, Hydromys chrysogaster, in air and water. Australian Journal of Zoology 28: 229-238

Friend, J.A. & Thomas, N.D. 1990. The water-rat, Hydromys chrysogaster (Muridae) on Dorre Island, W.A. Western Australian Naturalist 18: 92-93

Gardner, J.L. & Serena, M. 1995. Observations on activity patterns, population and den characteristics of the water rat Hydromys chrysogaster along Badger Creek, Victoria. Australian Mammalogy 18: 71-76

Harris, W.F. 1978. An ecological study of the water rat (Hydromys chrysogaster Geoffroy) in south-east Queensland. M.Sc. thesis. Brisbane : University of Queensland.

Laurence, W.F. 1994. Rainforest fragmentation and the structure of small mammal communities in tropical Queensland. Biological Conservation 69: 23-32

Lee, A.K. 1995. The Action Plan for Australian Rodents. Canberra : Australian Nature Conservation Agency 62 pp.

McNally, J. 1960. The biology of the Water Rat Hydromys chrysogaster Geoffroy (Muridae: Hydromyinae) in Victoria. Australian Journal of Zoology 8: 170-180

Morrissey, B.L. & Breed, W.G. 1982. Variation in external morphology of the glans penis of Australian native rodents. Australian Journal of Zoology 30: 495-502

Olsen, P. 1980. Seasonal and maturational pelage changes, and injuries, in the eastern water rat, Hydromys chrysogaster, at Griffith, N.S.W. Australian Wildlife Research 7: 217-233

Olsen, P.D. 1982. Reproductive biology and development of the Water Rat, Hydromys chrysogaster, in captivity. Australian Wildlife Research 9: 39-53

Olsen, P.D. 1995. Water-rat Hydromys chrysogaster. pp. 628-629 in Strahan, R. (ed.). The Mammals of Australia: The National Photographic Index of Australian Wildlife. Sydney : Reed New Holland 756 pp.

Smales, L.R. 1984. A survey of Hydromys chrysogaster, the Australian water rat in Central Gippsland. Victorian Naturalist 101: 115-118

Smales, L.R. 1997. A review of the helminth parasites of Australian rodents. Australian Journal of Zoology 45: 505-521

Smales, L.R., Miller, A.K. & Obendorf, D.L. 1990. Parasites of the water rat, Hydromys chrysogaster, from Victoria and South Australia. Australian Journal of Zoology 37(6): 657-663

Smales, L.R. & Cribb, T.H. 1997. Helminth parasite communities of the water-rat, Hydromys chrysogaster, from Queensland. Wildlife Research 24: 445-457

Smales, L.R. & Obendorf, D.L. 1996. Protozoan parasites and pathological findings in Hydromys chrysogaster (Muridae, Hydromyinae) from Queensland. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 32(2): 344-347

Vernes, K. 1998. Observations of a long-range overland movement event by an adult common water rat, Hydromys chrysogaster. Australian Mammalogy 20: 409-410

Watts, C.H.S. 1982. Australian hydromyine rodents: maintenance of captive colonies. pp. 180-184 in Evans, D.D. (ed.). The Management of Australian Mammals in Captivity. Proceedings of the Scientific Meeting of the Australian Mammal Society, Healesville, Victoria, February 1979. Melbourne : Zoological Board of Victoria 194 pp.

Watts, C.H.S. & Aslin, H.J. 1981. The Rodents of Australia. Sydney : Angus & Robertson xii 321 pp. 16 pls.

Woollard, P., Vestjens, W. J. M. & Maclean, L. 1978. The ecology of the eastern water rat Hydromys chrysogaster at Griffith, N.S.W.: Food and feeding habits. Australian Wildlife Research 5: 59-73

 

History of changes

Note that this list may be incomplete for dates prior to September 2013.
Published As part of group Action Date Action Type Compiler(s)
04-Feb-2023 10-Dec-2010 MOVED
10-Dec-2010 09-Dec-2010 MODIFIED
12-Feb-2010 (import)