Rattus praetor

• Main Authors: Don E. Wilson, Russell A. Mittermeier, Thomas E. Lacher, Jr
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: Lynx Edicions 2017
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Taxonomy; Animalia; Chordata; Mammalia; Rodentia; Muridae; Rattus; Rattus praetor; Rattus rattus
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6869001; http://treatment.plazi.org/id/1E30E27534D7FF65E49A24C074AD80F7

712. Large New Guinea Spiny Rat Rattus praetor French: Rat préteur / German: GroRe Neuguinea-Ratte / Spanish: Rata espinosa de Nueva Guinea grande Other common names: Large New Guinea Rat, Large Spiny Rat Taxonomy. Mus praetor Thomas, 1888, Aola, Guadalcanal Island, Solomon Islands. Rattus praetor is included in a clade of Re- cent New Guinea native species and seems to be close to R. steini (which makesit paraphyletic), R. mordax, and R. novaeguineae. As currently defined, R. praetor almost certainly represents multiple species, particularly because there are regularly caught specimens outside the current known distribution that are fairly similar to R.praetor. The newly described species R. nikenii was previously included in R. praetor. Two subspecies recognized. Subspecies and Distribution. R.p.praetorThomas,1888—BismarckArchipelago(includingtheAdmiraltyIs)andnearbyIs,aswellastheSolomonIs. R. p. coenorum Thomas, 1922 —W & NNew Guinea; populations on Gebe I and Salawati I probably represent this taxon. Descriptive notes. Head—body 157-245 mm, tail 144-181 mm, ear 18-20 mm, hindfoot 34-39 mm; weight 164-228 g. The Large New Guinea Spiny Rat is large, variable, and foul smelling, with harsh and spiny pelage. At higher elevations,it is smaller, richer dark brown, and less spiny. Dorsum is grizzled medium to dark brown, with rufous tipping on normal hairs and spines, generally being lighter on sides. Juvenile pelage is grayer and less spiny in both subspecies and can have white spots dorsally in subspecies coenorum. Venteris gray to yellowish ivory, sharply demarcated from dorsum; white spots are common throughout ventral pelage but most common pectorally. Feet are covered with medium to light brown hair dorsally. Ears are fairly short and medium brown; vibrissae are long and dark. Tail is ¢.80% of head—body length and unicolored medium brown. Skull is large and has prominent supraorbital-temporal and supraoccipital ridging. There are four pairs of mammae: two axillary and two inguinal. Diploid numberis 2n = ...