Rattus verecundus Thomas 1904

Rattus verecundus Thomas 1904, Novit. Zool., 11: 598.

Type Locality: Papua New Guinea, Central Province, Aroa River, Avera, 200 m.

Vernacular Names: New Guinea slender Rat.

Synonyms: Rattus mollis Rümmler 1935; Rattus tomba (Laurie 1952); Rattus unicolor Rümmler 1935 .

Distribution: New Guinea; from the Vogelkop region in W Prov. of Papua (= Irian Jaya) to easternmost Papua New Guinea; nearly all records are from Papua New Guinea; altitudinal range, 150 to 2750 m (Taylor et al., 1982:204, and Flannery, 1995 a:345).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc) as Stenomys verecundus .

Discussion: Rattus leucopus species group. Revised by Taylor et al. (1982), who recognized three subspecies: mollis, unicolor, and verecundus . Chromosomal morphology discussed by Dennis and Menzies (1978). Leary and Seri (1997) described the distribution in the Kikori River Basin in S Papua where R. verecundus occurs sympatrically with R. niobe at the upper altitudinal part of its range and Rattus leucopus at the lower end.