Tawitawi Forest Rat – Rattus tawitawiensis

Rattus tawitawiensisMusser and Heaney, 1985

Accepted name, Mammal Species of the World 2005

Rattus rattus species group. Still recorded by only three specimens. Phylogenetic affinities unclear; in some traits resembles Sulawesian R. hoffmanni and members of the Rattus palmarum-burrus-simalurensis-lugens clusters on the Nicobar, Simalur, and Mentawai islands more closely than any described Rattus from the Indo-Australian region (Musser and Heaney, 1985).

• Wilson, D and Reeder, D. (eds.) 2005. Mammal Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. 3rd ed. -- 2142 pp. Johns Hopkins University Press.