Manus rat
| Manus rat | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Rattus detentus | ||||||||||||
| Timm , Weijola , Aplin , Donnellan , Flannery , Thomson , Pine , 2016 |
The Manus rat ( Rattus detentus ) is a rat species endemic to the island of Manus in the north of Papua New Guinea .
features
The manus rat is a large, terrestrial rat species and weighs 430 g with a head trunk length of 26 cm. In terms of size, it exceeds all other Melanesian rat species, with the exception of the Japen rat ( Rattus jobiensis ) and possibly some populations of R. praetor coenorum , a subspecies of the Great New Guinea spiny rat . The dark gray colored tail is relatively short with a length of about 15 cm. It is 58% of the length of the head and is proportionally shorter than that of all other New Guinea rats. The back fur is dark gray, shows numerous light gray spots and also contains many transparent bristles, some of which have reddish or dark tips. The black top hair is coarse and a maximum of 55 mm long, the wool hair is colored fine and light gray. The outside of the front and rear legs are light gray. The fur on the belly side from the lower lip to the base of the tail is whitish. The transition from the dark fur on the sides of the body to the white peritoneum is abrupt. The nose mirror is white, the muzzle is covered with short, dark hair. The ears are about 24 mm high and covered with very fine hair. The thick and black colored vibrissae are a maximum of 60 mm long. The skin on the tops of the fore and hind paws is speckled and speckled with short, dark hair, the tops of the toes are white. The claws on the front and rear paws are robust and ivory in color. The scales on the tail are large, almost rectangular, and only slightly overlap. There are 6 to 7 rows of scales for every centimeter of tail length. There are three bristles on each scale.
Systematics
The species was only described in the zoological journal Journal of Mammalogy in 2016 and was given the name detentus (Latin: arrested). The authors of the first description wanted to draw attention to the fact that the species is isolated on the small island of Manus, on which the Australian government has set up an internment camp for asylum seekers (English detention center ). The Manus rat belongs within the genus of rats ( Rattus ) to a clade of rats native to Australia and living on New Guinea and the adjacent islands, but is phylogenetically relatively isolated within this clade .
literature
- Robert M. Timm, Valter Weijola, Ken P. Aplin, Stephen C. Donnellan, Tim F. Flannery, Vicki Thomson, Ronald H. Pine: A new species of Rattus (Rodentia: Muridae) from Manus Island, Papua New Guinea doi : 10.1093 / jmammal / gyw034 , Journal of Mammalogy , Volume 97, Issue 3, June 9, 2016, pp. 861-878
Web links
- Ben Doherty: New species of Manus Island rat named after detainees in 'solidarity' gesture In: The Guardian, April 13, 2016, accessed September 12, 2019.
supporting documents
- ↑ a b c Robert M. Timm, Valter Weijola, Ken P. Aplin, Stephen C. Donnellan, Tim F. Flannery , Vicki Thomson, Ronald H. Pine: A new species of Rattus (Rodentia: Muridae) from Manus Island, Papua New Guinea. Journal of Mammalogy, April 2016, DOI: 10.1093 / jmammal / gyw034