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Maclear's Christmas Island Rat
Rattus macleari (Thomas, 1887)
Also calledMcLear-patkány (hun) · joulusaarenpensasrotta (fin) · krysa Maclearova (ces) · Крыса Маклеара (rus) · クリスマスクマネズミ (jpn)
First described in: Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. vol.1887 p.513
Maclear's rat (Rattus macleari) is an extinct large rat endemic to Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean. It was one of two species of rat native to Christmas Island, alongside the bulldog rat. Is also called the Christmas Island rat. Abundant, unfamiliar with and seemingly unafraid of humans, large numbers of the creatures emerged and foraged in all directions at night. Making querulous squeaks, the rats entered the Challenger expedition's tents and shelters in 1886, ran over sleepers, and upset everything in the search and fight for food. Maclear's rat might have been responsible for keeping the population of the Christmas Island red crab in check, as recent numbers of the crab are greater than in the past. It is thought that black rats inadvertently introduced by the expedition infected the Maclear's rats with a disease (possibly a trypanosome), which in turn could have contributed to the species' decline. The last recorded sighting was in 1903, although it is possible that Maclear's rats hybridized with black rats. A hard tick (Ixodes nitens), described as an ectoparasite of Maclear's rat, is also thought to be extinct.
Said to be related to Rattus xanthurus of Sulawesi and R. everetti of the Philippines, this species was grizzled brown above and lighter on the underside. The lower back had prominent long and black hairs that projected above the shorter fur. The base of the tail was dark with the distal half being scaly white.
Descriptions from checklists and floras indexed by GBIF
discussion
Discussion: Rattus species group unresolved. Ellerman (1941) first listed the species as the only member of " macleari " group in subgenus Rattus, then placed it and R. nativitatis in same group within subgenus Stenomys of Rattus (Ellerman, 1949 a). Chasen (1940) thought R. macleari to be nearest Sundamys muelleri, but in their comparisons, Musser and Newcomb (1983) found no support for this alliance. Misonne (1969) included R. macleari in subgenus Rattus; at the other extreme, Sody (1941) proposed genus Christomys to contain it. In the original description, Thomas (1887 c) indicated R. macleari belonged to a group that included Taeromys celebensis, Lenomys meyeri, Rattus everetti, and R. xanthurus (he treated all as Rattus); of these, only R. xanthurus resembles R. macleari (Musser and Newcomb, 1983). Phylogenetic relationships remain unresolved, but Musser (1986) suggested R. macleari should be compared with a group of species that includes R. annandalei, R. enganus, R. korinchi, R. montanus, R. nativitatis, and R. xanthurus, none of them members of subgenus Rattus but distantly related to it. Until the introduction of Rattus rattus in 1899 (apparently from a cargo of hay carried
Order Rodentia - Family Muridae
distribution
Distribution: Endemic to Christmas Isl, 320 km south of Java in the Indian Ocean; thought to be extinct by 1908 (Andrews, 1909) and now considered extirpated (Flannery, 1990 c), with time of extinction between 1901 and 1904 (Pickering and Norris, 1996).
Order Rodentia - Family Muridae
discussion
COMMENTS: Ellerman (1941) first listed the species as the only member of " macleari " group in subgenus Rattus, then placed it and R. nativitatis in same group within subgenus Stenomys of Rattus (Ellerman, 1949 a). Chasen (1940) thought macleari to be nearest Sundamys muelleri, but in their comparisons, Musser and Newcomb (1983) found no support for this alliance. Misonne (1969) included macleari in subgenus Rattus. Sody (1941) proposed genus Christomys for macleari. In the original description, Thomas (1887 c) indicated macleari to belong to a group that included celebensis, everetti, meyeri, and xanthurus; of these, only xanthurus resembled macleari (Musser and Newcomb, 1983). Phylogenetic relationships remain unresolved, but Musser (1986) suggested macleari should be compared with a group of species that includes annandalei, enganus, korinchi, montanus, nativitatis, and xanthurus, all not part of subgenus Rattus, and distantly related to it.
Order Rodentia - Family Muridae
distribution
DISTRIBUTION: Was endemic to Christmas Isl, 320 km south of Java in the Indian Ocean, but was thought to be extinct by 1908 (Andrews, 1909) and is now considered extinct (Flannery, 1990 c).
Order Rodentia - Family Muridae
Where it has been recorded
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Rattus macleari in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
From the GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and occurrence records (GBIF.org), with Wikipedia and the Source Library. GBIF species 2439231.