Dusky rat
Rattus colletti (Thomas, 1904)
The dusky rat (Rattus colletti) is a species in the family Muridae, order Rodentia. Recorded adults weigh 61 g to 152 g and live up to 1.5 years. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
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Quick facts about the dusky rat
- Weight
- 61 g – 152 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 1.5 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Herbivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Gestation
- 21.9 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 6src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 60.9 dayssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 4src for Litters or clutches a year
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
Where does the dusky rat live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The dusky rat is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Why a country list is not a range map
Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
What is the dusky rat?
The dusky rat (Rattus colletti) is an indigenous species of rodent in the family Muridae found in Australia.
From the Wikipedia article “Dusky rat” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dusky_rat&oldid=1313714934), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the dusky rat endangered?
The dusky rat is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the dusky rat classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderRodentia
- familyMuridae
- genusRattus
- SpeciesRattus colletti (Thomas, 1904)
Synonyms Mus colletti
Other names and names in other languages (7)
- Australian dusky ratEnglish
- Australian dusky ratEnglish
- Dusky field ratEnglish
- ruskorottaFinnish
- オーストラリアクマネズミJapanese
- szczur aluwialnyPolish
- Тёмная крысаRussian
Relatives of the dusky rat
Other species in the same genus Rattus.
Brown rat
Rattus norvegicus
Black rat
Rattus rattus
Polynesian rat
Rattus exulans
Ricefield rat
Rattus argentiventer
Summit rat
Rattus baluensis
Bush rat
Rattus fuscipes
CompareDusky rat vs Brown ratDusky rat vs Black ratDusky rat vs Polynesian ratDusky rat vs Ricefield rat
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the dusky rat?
An adult dusky rat weighs 61 g – 152 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Where does the dusky rat live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the dusky rat for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
Is the dusky rat endangered?
The dusky rat is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
How long does the dusky rat live?
The dusky rat has a recorded lifespan of 1.5 years.
How long is the dusky rat pregnant?
The recorded gestation period is 21.9 days.
What kind of animal is the dusky rat?
The dusky rat (Rattus colletti) belongs to the family Muridae in the order Rodentia.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
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Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Dusky rat (Rattus colletti). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/dusky-rat
“Dusky rat (Rattus colletti).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/dusky-rat.
@misc{dusky_rat_2026,
title = {Dusky rat (Rattus colletti)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/dusky-rat},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}