Rattus

Rattus is a genus of muroid rodents, all typically called rats. However, the term rat can also be applied to rodent species outside of this genus.

Rattus
Temporal range: Early Pleistocene – Recent
The brown rat (Rattus norvegicus)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Muridae
Subfamily: Murinae
Genus: Rattus
Fischer de Waldheim, 1803
Species

64 species

Synonyms

Stenomys Thomas, 1910

Species and description

The best-known Rattus species are the black rat (R. rattus) and the brown rat (R. norvegicus). The group is generally known as the Old World rats or true rats and originated in Asia. Rats are bigger than most Old World mice, which are their relatives, but seldom weigh over 500 grams (1.1 lb) in the wild.

Taxonomy of Rattus

The genus Rattus is a member of the giant subfamily Murinae. Several other murine genera are sometimes considered part of Rattus: 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 and Aethomys.

The genus Rattus proper contains 64 extant species. A subgeneric breakdown of the species has been proposed, but does not include all species.(Thomson et al, 2018)

Species
Genus Rattus – Typical rats

Phylogeny

The following phylogeny of selected Rattus species is from Pagès, et al. (2010).[1]

 
 
 

Berylmys bowersi

 
 

Berylmys berdmorei

 
 
 
 
 

Bandicota savilei

 
 

Bandicota indica

 
 
Rattus 
 
 

Rattus nitidus

 
 

Rattus norvegicus

 
 
 
 

Rattus exulans

 
 
 

Rattus andamanensis

 
 
 

Rattus argentiventer

 
 
 
 

Rattus tiomanicus

 
 

Rattus losea

 
 
 
 

Rattus sp.

 
 
 

Rattus tanezumi

 
 

Rattus rattus

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

References
  1. Pagès, Marie; Chaval, Yannick; Herbreteau, Vincent; Waengsothorn, Surachit; Cosson, Jean-François; Hugot, Jean-Pierre; Morand, Serge; Michaux, Johan (2010). "Revisiting the taxonomy of the Rattini tribe: a phylogeny-based delimitation of species boundaries". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 10: 184. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-10-184. PMC 2906473. Archived from the original on 2017-07-10.

2. V. Thomson, A. Wiewel, A. Chinen, I. Maryanto, M. H. Sinaga, R. How,K. Aplin, H. Suzuki,Zootaxa2018,4459, 431

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