Eastern rat
Rattus mordax (Thomas, 1904)
The eastern rat (Rattus mordax) is a species in the family Muridae, order Rodentia. Recorded adults weigh 200.9 g to 230 g. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
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Quick facts about the eastern rat
- Weight
- 200.9 g – 230 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Herbivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Gestation
- 22.8 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 3.45src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 3.52 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- 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 eastern 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 eastern 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 eastern rat?
The eastern rat (Rattus mordax) is a species of rodent in the family Muridae.
It is found only in Papua New Guinea.
From the Wikipedia article “Eastern rat” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eastern_rat&oldid=1314057859), 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 eastern rat endangered?
The eastern 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 eastern rat classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderRodentia
- familyMuridae
- genusRattus
- SpeciesRattus mordax (Thomas, 1904)
Synonyms Mus mordax
Other names and names in other languages (6)
- Eastern New Guinea ratEnglish
- Eastern New Guinea ratEnglish
- papuanrottaFinnish
- カミツキクマネズミJapanese
- szczur kąsającyPolish
- Восточная крысаRussian
Relatives of the eastern 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
CompareEastern rat vs Brown ratEastern rat vs Black ratEastern rat vs Polynesian ratEastern rat vs Ricefield rat
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the eastern rat?
An adult eastern rat weighs 200.9 g – 230 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Where does the eastern rat live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the eastern rat for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
Is the eastern rat endangered?
The eastern rat is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
How long is the eastern rat pregnant?
The recorded gestation period is 22.8 days.
What kind of animal is the eastern rat?
The eastern rat (Rattus mordax) 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).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Eastern rat (Rattus mordax). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/eastern-rat
“Eastern rat (Rattus mordax).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/eastern-rat.
@misc{eastern_rat_2026,
title = {Eastern rat (Rattus mordax)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/eastern-rat},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}