Species Rattus exulans (Peale, 1848)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Mus exulans Peale, T.R. 1848. United States Exploring Expedition. During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842. Under the Command of Charles Wilkes, U.S.N. Mammalia and Ornithology. Philadelphia : C. Sherman (Printer) 8 xxv pp. 17-338 [47].

  Type data:

   Lectotype USNM 3730 skin (skull not found in the USNM), Tahiti, Society Ils.
  Paralectotype(s) whereabouts unknown (Poole, A.J. & Schantz, V.S. 1942. Catalog of the type specimen of mammals in the United States National Museum, including the Biological Survey Collection. Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus. 178: i–xiv 1–705 [462] failed to find the lectotypic skull in the USNM).
• Mus browni Alston, E.R. 1877. On the rodents and marsupials collected by the Rev. G. Brown in Duke-of-York Island, New Britain, and New Ireland. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1877: 123-127 pls 18-19 [publication date established from Alston, E.R. 1878. Supplementary note on rodents and marsupials from Duke-of-York Island and New Ireland. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1877: 743–744 [743]] [123] [recorded from Australia by Taylor, J.M., Calaby, J.H. & Van Deusen, H.M. 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 [277] as Rattus exulans browni (Alston)].

  Type data:

   Lectotype BMNH 77.7.18.26 ♀ skin & skull, Duke of York Is., Papua New Guinea.

  Compiled from secondary source:

   Taylor, J.M., Calaby, J.H. & Van Deusen, H.M. 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.

 

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]

 

Distribution

Extra Distribution Information

Adele Is., WA, Murray Is., Qld, Norfolk Is., Indochina, Micronesia, Polynesia.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

Qld, WA: Dampierland (DL)

Other Regions

Norfolk Island terrestrial & freshwater, Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater

Ecological Descriptors

Omnivore, peridomestic, terrestrial.

Extra Ecological Information

Diet mainly seeds, fruit, vegetable matter and insects, but known to take young birds and eggs.

 

General References

Aplin, K.P., Brown, P.R., Jacob, J., Krebs, C.J. & Singleton, G.R. 2004. Field Methods for Rodent Studies in Asia and the Pacific. ACIAR Monograph No. 100. Canberra : Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research

Bunn, T.J. & Craig, T.J. 1989. Population cycles of Rattus exulans: population changes, diet, and food availability. New Zealand Journal of Ecology 16: 409-418

Dwyer, P.D. 1978. A study of Rattus exulans (Peale) (Rodentia: Muridae) in the New Guinea Highlands. Australian Wildlife Research 5: 221-248

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

Matisoo-Smith, E. & Robins, J.H. 2004. Origins and dispersals of Pacific peoples: evidence from mtDNA phylogenies of the Pacific rat. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 101: 9167-9172

Pasteur, N., Worms, J., Tohari, M. & Iskandar, D. 1982. Genetic differentiation in Indonesian and French rats of the subgenus Rattus. Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 10: 191-196

Storer, T.I. (ed.) 1962. Pacific Island Rat Ecology Report of a study made on Ponape and adjacent islands 1955–1958. Bulletin of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum 225: 1-274

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. 1995. Pacific Rat Rattus exulans. 650 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

Wodzicki, K. & Taylor, R.H. 1984. Distribution and status of the polynesian rat Rattus exulans. Acta Zoologica Fennica 172: 99-101

 

Common Name References

ABRS 2001. Census of Australian Vertebrates. Australian Biological Resources Study (Polynesian Rat)

Clayton, M., Wombey, J.C., Mason, I.J., Chesser, R.T. & Wells, A. 2006. CSIRO List of Australian Vertebrates: A Reference with Conservation Status. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing iv 162 pp. [113] (Pacific Rat)