New Ireland forest rat
| New Ireland forest rat | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Muridae |
| Subfamily: | Murinae |
| Genus: | Rattus |
| Species: | R. sanila |
| Binomial name | |
| Rattus sanila Flannery & White, 1991 | |
The New Ireland forest rat (Rattus sanila) is a large rodent in the family Muridae. It is endemic to New Ireland, in the Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea.
Description
Ratus sanila is known only by the discovery of some 7 subfossil fragments of jaw dated to over 3000 years old. The molars of this particular species are broad and have a very complex structure of the cusp. The diastema is also longer than in other species of the genus Rattus suggesting a separate species which may be a relict of an archaic or ancestral dispersal of Rattus stock to New Guinea and Australia. This species probably still survives in some primary forest.[1]
References
- ↑ Wilson, edited by Don E.; Reeder, DeeAnn M. (2005). Mammal species of the world : a taxonomic and geographic reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-8221-4.
External links
- http://thewebsiteofeverything.com/animals/mammals/Rodentia/Muridae/Rattus/Rattus-sanila.html
- http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3/browse.asp?id=13001779
- http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=585548
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