Rattus purdiensis Troughton, 1946

Parnaby, Harry E., Ingleby, Sandy & Divljan, Anja, 2017, Type Specimens of Non-fossil Mammals in the Australian Museum, Sydney, Records of the Australian Museum 69 (5), pp. 277-420 : 377

Rattus purdiensis Troughton, 1946

Rec. Aust. Mus. 21(7): 408. (24 June 1946).

Common name. Large New Guinea Spiny Rat.

Current name. Rattus praetor praetor ( Thomas, 1888b) , following Taylor et al. (1982) and Musser & Carleton (2005).

Holotype. M.7183 by original designation. Male adult, skull, study skin, presented on 8 August 1945 by Flying Officer D. C. Swan, registered February 1946.

Condition. Cranium and dentaries complete. Study skin with bald patch on the right side, bald patch on the dorsal surface near proximal end of the tail, bald patch on the left side, most of the fur on the ventral surface is missing.

Type locality. Bat Island, Purdy Group, near Admiralty Group, Manus Province, Papua New Guinea.

Paratype. M.7184 by original designation. Female adult (allotype), skull, study skin, details as per holotype.

Comments. The description appears to be based on two specimens which are identified as holotype and allotype and cited by registration number. There is no indication of additional paratypes in the original description and no other specimens in the M Register that are identified as purdiensis in Troughton’s handwriting.