Maclear's rat

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Maclear's rat

Extinct (1903)  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Muridae
Genus: Rattus
Species:
†R. macleari
Binomial name
†Rattus macleari
(Thomas, 1887)
Synonyms

Mus macleari Thomas, 1887[2]

Maclear's rat (Rattus macleari) is an extinct large

ectoparasite of Maclear's rat, is also thought to be extinct.[6]

Skull

Said to be related to

R. everetti of the Philippines, this species was grizzled brown above and lighter on the underside. The lower back had prominent long and black hairs that projected above the shorter fur. The base of the tail was dark with the distal half being scaly white.[7]

Extinction timeline for Christmas Island rats

The rat is named after Captain John Maclear (1838–1907) of the British survey-ship HMS Flying-Fish, who collected the specimen from Christmas Island in 1886. It was described as a new species by Oldfield Thomas the next year, although it was originally described under the genus Mus.[2][7] Maclear was earlier commander on HMS Challenger for the Challenger Expedition of 1872–1876 under its commission captain, Sir George Nares.

A DNA study found Maclear's rat to be the sister species of

Hainald's rat native to the island of Flores, with the clade containing the two being sister to the clade containing Nesokia and Bandicota; this clade, in turn, is sister to the Australasian Rattus radiation, making Rattus as currently defined paraphyletic.[8]

See also

References

  1. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T19344A22440729.en
    . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ^ a b Thomas, Oldfield (1887). "Report on a Zoological Collection made by the Officers of HMS Flying-Fish at Christmas Island, Indian Ocean. Communicated by Dr. A. Gunther, VPZS, Keeper of the Zoological Department, British Museum". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London: 513–514.
  3. doi:10.1071/AM96019
    .
  4. PMID 18985148
    .
  5. ISBN 978-0-87113-797-5
    .
  6. PMID 21554736
    .
  7. ^ a b Harper, Francis (1945). Extinct and vanishing mammals of the Old World. New York: American Committee for International Wild Life Protection. pp. 206–208.
  8. S2CID 52975664
    .
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