Maclear's Christmas Island Rat

Open encyclopedia reference

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. 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.

Wikipedia contributors, Maclear's rat; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T12:59:08.058356+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Rattus macleari (Thomas, 1887)

Name authority

(Thomas, 1887)

Common name

Maclear's Christmas Island Rat

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Rodentia

Family

Muridae

Genus

Rattus

Extinction status

Recorded extinct

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
9. subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
10. infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
11. orderRodentia Bowdich, 1821
12. suborderMyomorpha Brandt, 1855
13. superfamilyMuroidea Illiger, 1811
14. familyMuridae Illiger, 1811
15. subfamilyMurinae Illiger, 1811
16. genusRattus Fischer, 1803
17. speciesRattus macleari (Thomas, 1887)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Rattus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 672 records assigned to Muridae.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=585534 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:4RM5J. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.