Rattus owiensis Troughton 1945

• Main Authors: Parnaby, Harry E., Ingleby, Sandy, Divljan, Anja
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2017
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Taxonomy; Animalia; Chordata; Mammalia; Rodentia; Muridae; Rattus; Rattus owiensis; Rattus rattus
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7555702; http://treatment.plazi.org/id/03DD87C8FFDD73511921FF7CFCCF92A5

Rattus owiensis Troughton, 1945 Rec. Aust. Mus. 21(6): 374. (25 June 1945). Common name . Yapen Island Rat. Current name . Rattus jobiensis Rümmler, 1935; following Taylor et al. (1982) and Musser & Carleton (2005). Holotype . M.6993 by original designation. Male, subadult, [collector’s No. Owi Is. 30], skull, study skin, presented by Lt. Col. C. B. Philip and Major G. M. Kohls in August 1944, registered September 1944. Condition . Incomplete and damaged cranium; braincase fragmented, missing left auditory capsule, hole in right auditory bulla (which is detached), missing jugal bone of both zygomatic arches; both dentaries complete. Study skin: bald patch on throat, three bald patches on ventral abdominal area; otherwise in good condition. Type locality . Owi Island, Schouten Island Group, Cenderawasih (formerly Geelvink) Bay, Papua Province, Indonesia. Paratypes . (3, 2 by subsequent determination; species composite). Same data as holotype: M.6992 by original designation, female (allotype), subadult, skull, study skin (= R. jobiensis ); M.6994 , male, skull, study skin (= R. exulans browni ); marked by Troughton as paratype in register and given as owiensis M.6995 , male, body in alc., (= Rattus exulans browni ), marked in the register as owiensis by Troughton though not marked as a paratype, but marked “ paratype ” by Troughton on the specimen index card. Comments . The number of specimens in the type series is not indicated by Troughton, who cites registration numbers for the holotype and allotype only. The holotype is a male, although Troughton variously refers to it as male and female in the original account. Taylor et al. (1982) note that the type series is a composite of two species. They assigned the male holotype, and paratype female M.6992, both of which they state are subadult, to R. jobiensis , and the paratypes M.6994 and M.6996 to Rattus exulans browni . However these authors do not mention M.6995, the only spirit specimen, which is also Rattus exulans browni . We have not included M.6996 ...