The king rat (''Uromys rex'') is a large species of rodent in the family
Muridae. It is endemic to the island of
Guadalcanal in the
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capit ...
.
[Gippoliti, S. 2002.]
Uromys rex2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
. Retrieved 9 July 2007. Like the two other species of rodent in Guadalcanal, it is placed in the genus U''romys''.
It lives in trees and is larger than ''
Uromys porculus
The Guadalcanal rat (''Uromys porculus'') is a species of rodent in the family Muridae.
It was found only in the Solomon Islands. Since this species was collected between 1886 and 1888 it has not been seen again. It is possibly extinct.
Descrip ...
'' but smaller than ''
Uromys imperator
The emperor rat (''Uromys imperator'') is a large species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is endemic to the island of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. It is classified as critically endangered by the IUCN
The International Union for C ...
''.
References
Uromys
Mammals of the Solomon Islands
Endemic fauna of the Solomon Islands
Mammals described in 1888
Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas
{{Murinae-stub