Rattus

Rattus is a genus of muroid rodents, all typically called rats. However, the term rat can also be applied to rodent species outside of this genus.

Rattus

Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
ratPBDB
Sits inside
MurinaePBDB
Diet
herbivore, insectivorePBDB, for Muridae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 3.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 3.6 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 7.246 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 247 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 21 of 247 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 109 of 247 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 117 of 247 occurrences7.5–7.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.2–7.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.0–6.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.7–6.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.5–6.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.2–5.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.9–5.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.7–5.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.4–5.2 Mya — about 1 occurrence5.2–4.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.9–4.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.6–4.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.4–4.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.9–3.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.6–3.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.4–3.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.1–2.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.8–2.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.6–2.3 Mya — about 7 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 7 occurrences2.1–1.8 Mya — about 7 occurrences1.8–1.5 Mya — about 6 occurrences1.5–1.3 Mya — about 6 occurrences1.3–1.0 Mya — about 6 occurrences1.0–775 ka Mya — about 6 occurrences775 ka–516 ka Mya — about 15 occurrences516 ka–258 ka Mya — about 15 occurrences258 ka–0 Mya — about 154 occurrences3.6 Mya11.7 ka7.7 Mya0 Mya

247 occurrences of Rattus on record. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

247 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

12 formations

Shungura — 5.08°N, 36.03°EShungura — 5.01°N, 36.00°EKoobi Fora — 3.98°N, 36.32°EKoobi Fora — 4.27°N, 36.29°EKoobi Fora — 4.18°N, 36.42°EKoobi Fora — 3.59°N, 36.24°EOlduvai — 2.99°S, 35.34°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 34.32°EMakapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°EVarswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°EVogel River Series — 3.21°S, 35.21°EVogel River Series — 3.13°S, 35.13°EKromdraai — 26.00°S, 27.75°EHumbu — 2.33°S, 35.97°EWyandotte — 18.77°S, 144.85°EKapthurin — 0.50°N, 36.00°ETomori — 24.79°N, 125.29°EMoorna — 34.12°S, 141.65°E

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The named rock units Rattus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 204 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

1,800 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 193 sites for Rattus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

99 references

Each of the 247 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 87 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Rattus

Credit
Charles J. Sharp
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Rattus rattus · ummz:mammals:157599

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itMurinae through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Fischer 1803