Genus of rodents
Rattus Thebrown rat (Rattus norvegicus ) Scientific classification Domain: Eukaryota Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Rodentia Family: Muridae Tribe: Rattini Genus: Rattus Fischer de Waldheim , 1803Type species Rattus rattus Linnaeus, 1758
Species 68 species
Synonyms [ 1] Stenomys Thomas, 1910 Acanthomys Gray, 1867 Christomys Sody, 1941 Cironomys Sody, 1941 Epimys Trouessart, 1881 Geromys Sody, 1941 Mollicomys Sody, 1941 Octomys Sody, 1941 Pullomys Sody, 1941 Togomys Dieterlen, 1989
Two Rats byVincent van Gogh (1884)Rattus genus ofmuroid rodents , all typically calledrats . However, the termrat can also be applied to rodent species outside of this genus.
Species and description The best-knownRattus species are theblack rat (R. rattus ) and thebrown rat (R. norvegicus ). The group is generally known as theOld World rats or true rats and originated inAsia . Rats are bigger than most Old Worldmice , which are their relatives, but seldom weigh over 500 grams (1.1 lb) in the wild.
Taxonomy ofRattus The genusRattus is a member of the giant subfamilyMurinae . Several other murine genera are sometimes considered part ofRattus :Lenothrix Anonymomys Sundamys Kadarsanomys Diplothrix Margaretamys Lenomys Komodomys Palawanomys Bunomys Nesoromys Stenomys ,Taeromys Paruromys Abditomys Tryphomys Limnomys Tarsomys Bullimus Apomys Millardia Srilankamys Niviventer Maxomys Leopoldamys Berylmys Mastomys Myomys Praomys Hylomyscus Heimyscus Stochomys Dephomys Aethomys [citation needed
The genusRattus proper contains 64extant species . A subgeneric breakdown of the species has been proposed, but does not include all species.[ 2]
Species Genus
Rattus – Typical rats
incertae sedis Enggano rat (Rattus enganus ) –Indonesia (potentiallyextinct )Philippine forest rat (Rattus everetti ) – thePhilippines Polynesian rat orkiore (Rattus exulans ) – originally native toBangladesh ,Myanmar ,Thailand ,Cambodia ,Laos ,Vietnam ,Malaysia , and Indonesia, but now introduced throughout thePacific (including mostPolynesian ,Melanesian , andMicronesian islands, most notablyFiji ,Papua New Guinea ,New Zealand ,Easter Island andHawaii ), as well as the Philippines,Brunei , andSingapore , origin uncertain inTaiwan Hainald's rat (Rattus hainaldi ) – IndonesiaHalmahera Island rat (Rattus halmaheraensis ) - IndonesiaHoogerwerf's rat (Rattus hoogerwerfi ) – IndonesiaKorinch's rat (Rattus korinchi ) – Indonesia†Maclear's rat (Rattus macleari ) –Christmas Island (now extinct) Nillu rat (Rattus montanus ) –Sri Lanka Molaccan prehensile-tailed rat (Rattus morotaiensis ) – Indonesia†Bulldog rat (Rattus nativitatis ) – Christmas Island (now extinct) Kerala rat (Rattus ranjiniae ) –India New Ireland forest rat (Rattus sanila ) –New Ireland , Papua New Guinea (potentially extinct)Andaman rat (Rattus stoicus ) – theAndaman Islands , IndiaTimor rat (Rattus timorensis ) –Timor R. norvegicus groupHimalayan field rat (Rattus nitidus ) – originally native toBhutan ,China , India, Myanmar,Nepal , Thailand, and Vietnam (presence uncertain in Bangladesh), but now introduced to Indonesia, the Philippines, andPalau Brown rat (Rattus norvegicus ) – originally native to southeasternSiberia , northeastern China, and parts ofJapan , but now introduced worldwide except AntarcticaTurkestan rat (Rattus pyctoris ; obs.Rattus turkestanicus ) –Afghanistan , China, India, Iran,Kyrgyzstan ,Nepal and PakistanR. rattus groupSunburned rat (Rattus adustus ) –Enggano Island , IndonesiaSikkim rat (Rattus andamanensis ) –Bhutan ,Cambodia , China, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand and VietnamRicefield rat (Rattus argentiventer ) –Southeast Asia Summit rat (Rattus baluensis ) –Malaysia Aceh rat (Rattus blangorum ) – IndonesiaNonsense rat (Rattus burrus ) – theNicobar Islands , IndiaHoffmann's rat (Rattus hoffmanni ) – IndonesiaKoopman's rat (Rattus koopmani ) – IndonesiaLesser ricefield rat (Rattus losea ) – China, Laos, Taiwan, Thailand and VietnamMentawai rat (Rattus lugens ) – IndonesiaMindoro black rat (Rattus mindorensis ) – the PhilippinesLittle soft-furred rat (Rattus mollicomulus ) – IndonesiaOsgood's rat (Rattus osgoodi ) – VietnamPalm rat (Rattus palmarum ) – the Nicobar Islands, IndiaBlack rat (Rattus rattus ) – originally native to western India andPakistan , but now introduced worldwide except AntarcticaLittle Indochinese field rat (Rattus sakeratensis ) – Thailand and LaosSahyadris forest rat (Rattus satarae ) – IndiaSimalur rat (Rattus simalurensis ) – IndonesiaTanezumi rat (Rattus tanezumi ) –Afghanistan , Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, theCocos (Keeling) Islands , Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan,North Korea ,South Korea , Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and VietnamTawitawi forest rat (Rattus tawitawiensis ) – the PhilippinesMalayan field rat (Rattus tiomanicus ) – Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and ThailandR. xanthurus groupR. leucopus group (New Guinean group)R. fuscipes group (Australian group)
Phylogeny The following phylogeny of selectedRattus species is fromPagès et al. (2010) .[ 3]
Fossil species In contrast to the large number of living species, as of 2024, just four fossil species have been placed inRattus proper:[ 4]
Rattus baoshanensis - LatePliocene ChinaRattus jaegeri - Late Pliocene to EarlyPleistocene ThailandRattus pristinus - Early Pleistocene ChinaRattus miyakoensis - Late Pleistocene Japan[ 5]
References ^ "Rattus " .Integrated Taxonomic Information System . Retrieved15 November 2021 .^ Thomson, Vicki; Wiewel, Andrew; Chinen, Aldo; Maryanto, Ibnu; Sinaga, M. H.; How, Ric; Aplin, Ken; Suzuki, Hitoshi (2018). "A perspective for resolving the systematics ofRattus , the vertebrates with the most influence on human welfare".Zootaxa .4459 (3):431– 452.doi :10.11646/zootaxa.4459.3.2 .PMID 30314119 .S2CID 52975664 . ^ Pagès, Marie; Chaval, Yannick; Herbreteau, Vincent; Waengsothorn, Surachit; Cosson, Jean-François; Hugot, Jean-Pierre; et al. (2010)."Revisiting the taxonomy of the Rattini tribe: A phylogeny-based delimitation of species boundaries" .BMC Evolutionary Biology .10 (1): 184.Bibcode :2010BMCEE..10..184P .doi :10.1186/1471-2148-10-184 PMC 2906473 PMID 20565819 . ^ Chang, M.; Zhang, C.; et al. (January 2023). "A newRattus species and its associated micromammals from the Pliocene Yangyi Formation in Baoshan, Western Yunnan, China".Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology .43 (1): e2249063.doi :10.1080/02724634.2023.2249063 . ^ Kawaguchi, S.; Kaneko, Y.; Hasegawa, Y. (2009)."A new species of the fossil murine rodent from the Pinza-Abu Cave, the Miyako Island of the Ryukyo Archipelago, Japan" .Bulletin of Gunma Museum of Natural History .13 :15– 28. Retrieved3 March 2024 .
