Species Rattus villosissimus (Waite, 1898)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Mus villosissimus Waite, E.R. 1898. Observations on Muridae from Central Australia. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria ns 10: 114-128 pls 5-6 [125] [nom. nov. for Mus longipilis Gould, 1854].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s).
• Mus longipilis Gould, J. 1854. The Mammals of Australia. London : J. Gould Part 6. [1 unnumbered page of text, 8th pl of Pt 6] [= Vol. 3 pl. 13; junior homonym of Mus longipilis Waterhouse, 1837].

  Type data:

   Holotype AM 62 (Palmer Register) skin & skull, probably the vicinity of Goonaghooheeny Billabong, Cooper Creek, QLD; Calaby & Taylor (1974: 267) believe the type locality should be stated as 'probably Goorogooheeny Billabong, Cooper Creek, south-western Queensland'.

  Type locality references:

  Calaby, J.H. & Taylor, J.M. 1974. Type locality of Rattus villosissimus. Australian Mammalogy 1: 267-268.
• Rattus villosissimus profusus Thomas, O. 1921. On three new Australian rats. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 9 8: 618-622 [620].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH 41.1262 ♂ skin & skull, Liverpool Plains, NSW.

 

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]

 

Generic Combinations

• Rattus villosissimus (Waite, 1898).

 

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NSW, NT, Qld, SA, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Ranges (CR), Daly Basin (DAB), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Gawler (GAW), Gibson Desert (GD), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), New England Tablelands (NET), Nullarbor (NUL), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Tanami (TAN), Victoria Bonaparte (VB)

Ecological Descriptors

Burrower, desert sand dunes, folivore, granivore, subtropical, terrestrial.

 

General References

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., Robinson, A.C. & Robinson, J.F. 1977. Chromosome evolution in Australian rodents II. The Rattus Group. Chromosoma (Berlin) 61: 227-241

Carstairs, J.L. 1974. The distribution of Rattus villosissimus (Waite) during plague and non-plague years. Australian Wildlife Research 1: 95-106

Carstairs, J.L. 1976. Population dynamics and movements of Rattus villosissimus (Waite) during the 1966–69 plague at Brunette Downs, N.T. Australian Wildlife Research 3: 1-9

Carstairs, J.L. 1979. The effect of captivity on fighting by Rattus villosissimus (Rodentia: Muridae). Australian Journal of Zoology 27: 537-545

Gemmeke, von H. & Niethammer, J. 1984. Zur Taxonomie der Gattung Rattus (Rodentia, Muridae). Zeitschrift fur Säugetierkunde 49: 104-116

King, D.R. 1994. The sensitivity of Rattus villosissimus to 1080. Australian Mammalogy 17: 123-124

McGee, P.A. & Baczocha, N. 1994. Sporocarpic Endogonales and Gomales in the scats of Rattus and Perameles. Mycological Research 98: 246-249

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

Predavec, M. & Dickman, C.R. 1994. Population dynamics and habitat use of the long-haired rat (Rattus villosissimus) in south-westrern Queensland. Wildlife Research 21: 1-10

Taylor, J.M. & Horner, B.E. 1973. Reproductive characteristics of wild native Australian Rattus (Rodentia: Muridae). Australian Journal of Zoology 21: 437-475

Taylor, J.M. & Horner, B.E. 1973. Results of the Archbold Expeditions. No. 98. Systematics of native Australian Rattus (Rodentia, Muridae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150: 1-130

Watts, C.H.S. 1982. The husbandry of Australian Rattus. pp. 177-179 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. 1995. Long-haired Rat Rattus villosissimus. pp. 664-665 in Strahan, R. (ed.). The Mammals of Australia: The National Photographic Index of Australian Wildlife. Sydney : Reed New Holland 756 pp.

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

 

Common Name References

ABRS 2001. Census of Australian Vertebrates. Australian Biological Resources Study. (Long-haired Rat)

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
04-Feb-2023		10-Dec-2010	MOVED
10-Dec-2010		10-Dec-2010	MODIFIED
		12-Feb-2010	(import)