Species Rattus rattus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Mus rattus Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per Regna tria Naturae, secundem Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentis, Synonymis, Locis. Tom.1, Editio decima, reformata. Holmiae : Laurentii Salvii 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 2 17: 24-31.

  Compiled from 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, C.S. 1814. Précis des découvertes et travaux somiologiques entre 1800 et 1814 ou choix raisonné de ses principales découvertes en zoologie et en botanique, pour servir d'introduction à ses ouvrages futurs. Palerme : C.S. Rafinesque-Schmaltz 56 pp. [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.

  Compiled from 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.

  Compiled from 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]

 

Distribution

Extra Distribution Information

Worldwide in tropics and warm temperate zones.

Introduced from Europe and the Orient.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

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)

Ecological Descriptors

Necrophagous, omnivore, peridomestic, subtropical, terrestrial.

Extra Ecological Information

Good swimmer.

 

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

Aplin, K.P., Chesser, T. & Have, J. 2003. Evolutionary biology of the genus Rattus: profile of an archetypal rodent pest. In, Singleton, G.R., Hinds, L.A., Krebs, C.K. & Spratt, D.M. (eds). Rats, Mice and People: Rodent Biology and Management. Canberra : Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research

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

Claridge, A.W. & May, T.W. 1994. Mycophagy among Australian mammals. Australian Journal of Ecology 19: 251-275

Cooper, N.K. 1994. Identification of Pseudomys albocinereus, P. occidentalis, P. shortridgei, Rattus rattus and R. fuscipes using footpad patterns. Western Australian Naturalist 19: 279-283

Copson, G.R. 1986. The diet of the introduced rodents Mus musculus L. and Rattus rattus L. on subantarctic Macquarie Island. Australian Wildlife Research 13: 441-445

Cowan, P.E. 1981. Early growth and development of roof rats, Rattus rattus L. Mammalia 45: 239-250

Cox, M.P.G., Dickman, C.R. & Cox, W.G. 2000. Use of habitat by the black rat (Rattus rattus) at North Head, New South Wales: an observational experimental study. Austral Ecology 25: 375-385

Dunstan, C.E. & Fox, B.J. 1996. The effects of fragmentation and disturbance of rainforest on ground-dwelling small mammals on the Robertson Plateau, New South Wales, Australia. Journal of Biogeography 23: 187-201

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

Hinton, M.A.C. 1916. A History of British Mammals. London : Gurney & Jackson Vol. 18–19

Mallick, S.A. 1992. Urine-marking in three species of Rattus. Wildlife Research 19: 89-93

Niethammer, J. 1975. Zur Taxonomic und Ausbrietungsgeschichte der Hausratte (Rattus rattus). Zoologischer Anzeiger 194: 405-415

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

Pouliquen, O., Leishman, M. & Redhead, T.D. 1989. Effects of radio collars on wild mice (Mus domesticus). Canadian Journal of Zoology 68: 1607-1609

Schwartz, E. & Schwartz, H.K. 1967. A monograph of the Rattus rattus Group. Escuela Nacinal Ciencia Biologicas Mexico 14: 79-178

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

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

Yosida, T.H. 1980. Cytogenetics of the Black Rat. Karyotype evolution and species differentiation. Tokyo : Univ. Tokyo Press xiii 256 pp.

 

Common Name References

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