Lesser Stick-nest Rat

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Lesser Stick-nest Rat
Conservation status
Extinct  (1933) (IUCN 2.3)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Rodentia Family: Muridae Subfamily: Murinae Genus: Leporillus Species: L. apicalis
Binomial name
Leporillus apicalis Gould, 1854

The Lesser Stick-nest Rat or White-tipped Stick-nest Rat (Leporillus apicalis) lived in Southern inland Australia. It accumulated large mounds of sticks to construct its nests, which were up to three metres long and a metre high. It was easily tamed, sometimes climbing onto tables to get sugar. It was also eaten by people. The last capture was filmed on 18 July 1933, when the stick-nests were set alight. The specimens are held in the South Australian Museum. The rat may have declined from competition with cattle and sheep. There is a possibility that a Lesser Stick-nest Rat was seen in a cave in Western Australia in 1970.

[edit] External source

• Flannery, Tim & Schouten, Peter (2001). A Gap in Nature: Discovering the World's Extinct Animals. Atlantic Monthly Press, New York. ISBN 0-87113-797-6. 

[edit] References

• Baillie (1996). Leporillus apicalis. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006.