Rattus adustus Sody 1940

Rattus adustus Sody 1940, Treubia, 17: 397.

Type Locality: Indonesia, Pulau Enggano, off the coast of W Sumatra (and off the continental shelf), Kiojoh, sea level.

Vernacular Names: Burnished Enggano Rat.

Distribution: Pulau Enggano.

Conservation: IUCN – Vulnerable.

Discussion: Rattus rattus species group. Still known only by the holotype. Although Sody (1940) described adustus as a species, he later listed it as a subspecies of R. rattus in a section also containing lugens and mentawai, populations endemic to the Mentawai Isls (Sody, 1941). In morphology and geographic proximity, R. adustus is related to R. lugens, the two are allies of R. simalurensis from the Simalur Arch., and all three share close kinship with Sundaic R. tiomanicus (Musser and Heaney, 1985; Musser, ms.). Rattus adustus, R. enganus (see that account), and R. tiomanicus are the only native Rattus (and the sole native murines) on Pulau Enggano.