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SPECIES Rattus richardsoni

Author:Tate, 1949.
Citation:Am. Mus. Novit., 1421: 1.
Common Name:Richardson’s New Guinea Mountain Rat
Type Locality:New Guinea, Prov. of Papua (= Irian Jaya), northern slopes of Snow Mtns (Pegunungan Maoke), near Lake Habbema, 3225 m.
Distribution:New Guinea, Prov. of Papua (= Irian Jaya); recorded from three areas high in the Snow Mtns: Lake Habbema region, Mt Wilhelmina, and Mt Jaya (Carstensz Range), 3225-4500 m (Flannery, 1995a; Taylor et al., 1982).
Status:IUCN – Lower Risk (lc) as Stenomys richardsoni.
Comments:Rattus leucopus species group. Described as an unusual and distinctive member of Rattus, but later provisionally associated with a "niobe group" (Tate, 1951), a relationship supported by multivariate analyses of morphometric variables (Taylor et al., 1982). Most specimens are from tussock grassland and tundra-like habitat (mainly rock or gravel interspersed with mats of herbs and grass tufts), regions that are cold and wet throughout the year (Flannery, 1995a; Taylor et al., 1982). Taylor et al. (1982) included omichlodes, but Flannery (1995a) correctly removed it from synonymy (see that account).
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