dusky rat

{{speciesbox

| name = Dusky rat

| image =

| status = LC

| status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = {{cite iucn |author=Oakwood, M. |author2=Zichy-Woinarski, J. |date=2016 |title=Rattus colletti |volume=2016 |page=e.T19326A22444443 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T19326A22444443.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}

| genus = Rattus

| species = colletti

| authority = (Thomas, 1904)

| synonyms = {{specieslist|Mus colletti|Thomas, 1904}}

| synonyms_ref = {{cite book |last1=Jackson |first1=Stephen |last2=Groves |first2=Colin |date=2015 |title=Taxonomy of Australian Mammals|page=213|publisher=Csiro |isbn=978-1-4863-0013-6}}

}}

The dusky rat (Rattus colletti) is an indigenous species of rodent in the family Muridae found in Australia.

Name

Kunwinjku people of western Arnhem Land call this animal mulbbu, a name also applied to other rodent species.{{cite web |title=mulbbu |url=https://www.njamed.com/#mulbbu |website=Bininj Kunwok Dictionary |publisher=Bininj Kunwok Regional Language Centre |access-date=12 March 2022}} It was first described in 1904 by British zoologist Oldfield Thomas.{{Cite journal |last=Thomas |first=O. |date=1904 |title=New species of Pteropus, Mus, and Pogonomys from the Australian region |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/3858645 |journal=Novitates Zoologicae |volume=11 |pages=597–600|doi=10.5962/bhl.part.26839 |doi-access=free }}

Range

The rat is found only in the monsoonal subcoastal plains of the Northern Territory, Australia.

Predation

The dusky rat is eaten according to Peterson NganjmirraReverend Peterson Nganjmirra, personal comment in Goodfellow's, Fauna of Kakadu and the Top End, 1993 {{ISBN|9781862543065}}{{pn|date=February 2024}} and is prey to the Australian water python (Liasis fuscus) also ranging across northern Australia.

References

{{MSW3 Muroidea | id = 13001738 | page = 1468}}

Category:Rattus

Category:Mammals of the Northern Territory

Category:Rodents of Australia

Category:Mammals described in 1904

Category:Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas

Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot