Rattus browni tibicen Troughton, 1937a

Parnaby, Harry E., Ingleby, Sandy & Divljan, Anja, 2017, Type Specimens of Non-fossil Mammals in the Australian Museum, Sydney, Records of the Australian Museum 69 (5), pp. 277-420 : 373-374

Rattus browni tibicen Troughton, 1937a

Rec. Aust. Mus. 20(2): 123. (27 August 1937).

Common name. Pacific Rat.

Current name. Rattus exulans browni ( Alston, 1877) , following Taylor et al. (1982) and Musser & Carleton (2005).

Holotype. M.2483 by original designation. Male adult, skull, study skin, collected by Rev. H. P. Schlencker, presented by Thomas Steele; registered February 1914. Collecting date not given in register, stated by Troughton to be “some 40 years ago” (= c. 1897).

Condition. Cranium missing left zygomatic arch, both dentaries missing coronoid processes and left dentary missing angular process. Study skin: median incision of missing skin from chest to abdomen when skin was prepared, missing tail tip, otherwise in good condition.

Type locality. “ Fyfe Bay, near Isudau” ( Troughton ), Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea. Paratype. M.2484 by subsequent determination. Unsexed juvenile, marked as Rattus browni tibicen , same locality and collector as holotype: skull only .

Comments. Troughton’s account appears to be based on a single specimen, however he does not state how many specimens were examined. Consequently, the juvenile skull M.2484 marked as browni tibicen in Troughton’s handwriting in the register, is regarded here as a paratype although not marked as such.