Rattus (genus)
A native or introduced Rattus species at Corrowong, NSW
Identify this sighting
| Rattus (genus) | DonFletcher | 16 Feb 2025 | |
| Rattus or Mastacomys sp. (genus) | DonFletcher | 16 Feb 2025 | |
| Rattus rattus | CarbonAI | 14 Jan 2025 | |
| Rattus or Mastacomys sp. (genus) | DonFletcher | 14 Jan 2025 | |
| Unverified | BlackFlat | 14 Jan 2025 |
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2 comments
16 Feb 2025
Hi @BlackFlat, thanks for the record. And well done for providing the scale, which is extremely helpful yet done too rarely. No other moderator has commented in the interim, so I will try to close this off.
Scaling from your 8cm tin, we can eliminate a group of small species (this is not a mouse, Antechinus or Dunnart) and it is clearly not a water rat (Hydromys), which leaves us with four rat-sized species. They are Rattus rattus , Rattus norvegicus, Rattus fuscipes and Mastacomys fuscus. The latter can be eliminated because it is restricted to mountain areas (mostly treeless wet heaths and grasslands at relatively high altitude) and it usually looks longer-furred. We can't see tail length well enough to separate R rattus (introduced Black/Roof/Ship rat) from R fuscipes (native Bush Rat) which leaves the ID as 'Rattus sp'.
Scaling from your 8cm tin, we can eliminate a group of small species (this is not a mouse, Antechinus or Dunnart) and it is clearly not a water rat (Hydromys), which leaves us with four rat-sized species. They are Rattus rattus , Rattus norvegicus, Rattus fuscipes and Mastacomys fuscus. The latter can be eliminated because it is restricted to mountain areas (mostly treeless wet heaths and grasslands at relatively high altitude) and it usually looks longer-furred. We can't see tail length well enough to separate R rattus (introduced Black/Roof/Ship rat) from R fuscipes (native Bush Rat) which leaves the ID as 'Rattus sp'.
16 Feb 2025
Thanks Don I will check the other photos and see if I have one with a tail in it but from memory it was way longer than the body length.
Toni
Toni
Location information
- Coordinates 148.857291-36.868911
- Maps Black Flat at Corrowong
- Places Corrowong, NSW
Sighting information
- 1 Abundance
- 14 Jan 2025 12:50 AM Recorded on
- BlackFlat Recorded by
- Unknown Gender
- Alive / healthy Animal health
Collections
Species information
- Rattus (genus) Scientific name
- A native or introduced Rattus species Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Unknown
- Unknown
Record quality
Quality score
3 / 7
- Images or audio
- Verified by an expert moderator
- Additional attributes
- More than one media file
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species
- GPS evidence of location
- Description