Western water rat
Hydromys hussoni Musser & Piik, 1982
The western water rat (Hydromys hussoni) is a species in the family Muridae, order Rodentia. Recorded adults weigh 103.5 g to 141.9 g. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Data Deficient.
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Quick facts about the western water rat
- Weight
- 103.5 g – 141.9 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Carnivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Active
- Day and night (cathemeral)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Data Deficient (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
Where does the western water 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 western water 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 western water rat?
The western water rat (Hydromys hussoni) is a semiaquatic species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found in West Papua, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
It is threatened by habitat loss however a lot is still unknown about the species and it has been classified as Data Deficient on the IUCN Red List.
From the Wikipedia article “Western water rat” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Western_water_rat&oldid=1381780123), 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 western water rat endangered?
The western water rat is listed as Data Deficient on the IUCN Red List: it has too little data for its risk to be assessed.
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Data Deficient species. What the categories mean.
How is the western water rat classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderRodentia
- familyMuridae
- genusHydromys
- SpeciesHydromys hussoni Musser & Piik, 1982
Other names and names in other languages (11)
- Husson s water ratEnglish
- Husson's water ratEnglish
- Husson’s water ratEnglish
- Husson’s water ratEnglish
- جرذ الماء الغربيArabic
- myš HussonovaCzech
- Westliche SchwimmratteGerman
- uuden-guineanvesirottaFinnish
- ハッソンミズネズミJapanese
- Bobroszczur zachodniPolish
- Западная водяная крысаRussian
Relatives of the western water rat
Other species in the same genus Hydromys.
Rakali
Hydromys chrysogaster
New Britain water rat
Hydromys neobritannicus
Ziegler's water rat
Hydromys ziegleri
CompareWestern water rat vs RakaliWestern water rat vs New Britain water ratWestern water rat vs Ziegler's water ratWestern water rat vs Hydromys lutrilla
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the western water rat?
An adult western water rat weighs 103.5 g – 141.9 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Where does the western water rat live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the western water rat for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
Is the western water rat endangered?
The western water rat is listed as Data Deficient on the IUCN Red List, meaning it has too little data for its risk to be assessed.
What kind of animal is the western water rat?
The western water rat (Hydromys hussoni) 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). Western water rat (Hydromys hussoni). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/western-water-rat
“Western water rat (Hydromys hussoni).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/western-water-rat.
@misc{western_water_rat_2026,
title = {Western water rat (Hydromys hussoni)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/western-water-rat},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}