Rattus praetor Thomas 1888

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Rodentia - Family Muridae, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 2, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 1189-1531 : 1482

Rattus praetor Thomas 1888

Rattus praetor Thomas 1888 , Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 1, 2: 158.

Type Locality: Solomon Isls, Guadalcanal Isl, Aola.

Vernacular Names: Large New Guinea Spiny Rat.

Synonyms: Rattus bandiculus Thomas 1922 ; Rattus coenorum Thomas 1922 ; Rattus mediocris Troughton 1936 ; Rattus purdiensis Troughton 1946 ; Rattus sansapor Troughton 1946 ; Rattus tramitius Thomas 1922 ; Rattus utakwa Ellerman 1941 .

Distribution: New Guinea; on the mainland north of the Central Cordillera from Vogelkop Peninsula throughout N New Guinea to about the Sepik-Ramu drainage in Papua New Guinea, and south of the Cordillera to W Prov. of Papua (= Irian Jaya); sea level to 1900 m; absent from the Trans-Fly region and E Papua New Guinea. Living populations also recorded from Manus Isl in Admiralty Isls; Bougainville and Guadalcanal Isls in the Solomon Isls; Karkar Isl, Blup Blup Isl, Bat Isl, New Britain Isl, and New Ireland Isl in the Bismarck Arch.; and Salawati and Gebe islands off the western tip of Prov. of Papua (= Irian Jaya); found as fossils only on Nissan and Tikopia islands in the Solomons (Emmons and Kinbag, 2001; Flannery, 1995 a, b; Flannery and White, 1991; Taylor et al., 1982). Also recorded from Fiji Isl as a subfossil (K. Aplin, in litt., 2004).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Rattus leucopus species group. In Tate's (1951) monograph, this species was listed as a subspecies of R. ruber ; the holotype of ruber is an example of the introduced R. nitidus ( Taylor et al., 1983, summarized the taxonomic history). According to Flannery (1995 b:159), R. praetor "has been introduced prehistorically into most of its insular distribution, reaching New Ireland by 3500 year ago... and the Solomon Islands soon after." Reviewed by Flannery (1995 a, b).