The dusky rat (''Rattus colletti'') is an indigenous 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 lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are roden ...

in the family

Muridae The Muridae, or murids, are the largest family of rodents and of mammals, containing approximately 1,383 species, including many species of mice, rats, and gerbils found naturally throughout Eurasia, Africa, and Australia. The name Muridae com ...

found in Australia.

Name

Kunwinjku The Kunwinjku (formerly written Gunwinggu) people are an Australian Aboriginal people, one of several groups within the Bininj people, who live around West Arnhem Land to the east of Darwin, Northern Territory. Kunwinjku people generally refer t ...

people of western

Arnhem Land Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia, with the term still in use. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territory capital, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Company ...

call this animal ''mulbbu'', a name also applied to other rodent species. It was first described in 1904 by British zoologist Oldfield Thomas.

Range

The rat is found only in the monsoonal subcoastal plains of the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Au ...

, Australia.

Predation

The dusky rat is eaten according to Peterson NganjmirraReverend Peterson Nganjmirra, personal comment in Goodfellow's, ''Fauna of Kakadu and the Top End'', 1993 and is prey to the Australian water python (''(Liasis fuscus)'' also ranging across northern Australia.

References

* Rattus Mammals of the Northern Territory Rodents of Australia Mammals described in 1904 Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Rattus-stub