Dusky rat explained

The dusky rat (Rattus colletti) is an indigenous species of rodent in the family Muridae found in Australia.

Name

Kunwinjku people of western Arnhem Land call this animal mulbbu, a name also applied to other rodent species.[1] It was first described in 1904 by British zoologist Oldfield Thomas.[2]

Range

The rat is found only in the monsoonal subcoastal plains of the Northern Territory, Australia.

Predation

The dusky rat is eaten according to Peterson Nganjmirra[3] and is prey to the Australian water python (Liasis fuscus) also ranging across northern Australia.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: mulbbu . Bininj Kunwok Dictionary . Bininj Kunwok Regional Language Centre . 12 March 2022.
  2. Thomas . O. . 1904 . New species of Pteropus, Mus, and Pogonomys from the Australian region . Novitates Zoologicae . 11 . 597–600. 10.5962/bhl.part.26839 . free .
  3. Reverend Peterson Nganjmirra, personal comment in Goodfellow's, Fauna of Kakadu and the Top End, 1993