Canefield Rat

discussion

Discussion: Rattus fuscipes species group. One of the two species of native Rattus in the New Guinea-Australian region that occurs on both land masses. On morphological evidence, Taylor and Horner (1973) arranged villosissimus and colletti as subspecies of R. sordidus. Later evaluations, however, using chromosomal, biochemical, and hybridization data, suggested the three should be viewed as separate species in the same monophyletic cluster (Baverstock et al., 1977 d, 1983 a, 1986), which is the way they are treated in current faunal accounts and catalogs (Mahoney and Richardson, 1988; Redhead, 1995 b; Watts and Aslin, 1981).

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae

distribution

Distribution: Australia: E coast from tip of Cape York to NE New South Wales, and some off-shore islands (see Watts and Aslin, 1981: 239, and Redhead, 1995 b: 662). New Guinea: lowlands south of Central Cordillera from Dobodura in E Papua New Guinea west and north to Koembe in Prov. of Papua (= Irian Jaya); sea level to 670 m (see Taylor et al., 1983: 265, and Flannery, 1995 a: 335); also on Yule Isl, off the coast of SE Papua (Flannery, 1995 b).

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae

materials_examined

Type Locality: Australia, Queensland, open plains Darling Downs (as restricted by Thomas’ lectotype designation; see Mahoney and Richardson, 1988: 187).

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae

discussion

COMMENTS: One of the two species of native Rattus in the New Guinea-Australian region that occurs on both land masses. On morphological evidence, Taylor and Horner (1973) arranged villosissimus and colletti as subspecies of R. sordidus. Later evaluations, however, based on chromosomal, biochemical, and hybridization data, suggested the three should be viewed as separate species in the same monophyletic cluster (Baverstock et al., 1977 d, 1983 a, 1986), which is the way they are treated in current faunal accounts and catalogs (Mahoney and Richardson, 1988; Watts and Aslin, 1981).

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae