The masked white-tailed rat (''Uromys hadrourus'') is a species of
rodent
Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and Mandible, lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal specie ...
in the family
Muridae
The Muridae, or murids, are either the largest or second-largest family of rodents and of mammals, containing approximately 870 species, including many species of mice, rats, and gerbils found naturally throughout Eurasia, Africa, and Australia.
...
.
It is found only in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, in north-east Queensland.
Descriptive English common names for this species include Masked White-tailed Rat and Thornton Peak Uromys. During the 1990s there was a push for such names to be replaced with indigenous Australian names, and accordingly, in 1995 the
Australian Nature Conservation Agency published recommendations for the common names of rodents. They failed to identify any indigenous Australian names for ''U. hadrourus'', so recommended the adoption of the name Kuku, the
Kuku-Yalanki name for any rat.
However this recommendation was not prescriptive, and it remains to be seen to what extent it will be adopted.
References
*
Uromys
Mammals described in 1983
Mammals of Queensland
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
{{Murinae-stub