黑家鼠种

其相近物种褐鼠（Rattus norvegicus）则生活于较冷的区域。

黑鼠多见于家舍以及田野。该物种的模式产地在瑞典。

国际自然保护联盟物种存续委员会的入侵物种专家小组（ISSG）列为世界百大外来入侵种。

亚种

屋顶鼠尼泊尔亚种（学名：Rattus rattus brunneusculus），Hodgson于1845年命名。分布在中国西藏（墨脱）等地。该物种的模式产地在尼泊尔。

屋顶鼠海南亚种（学名：Rattus rattus hainanicus），G. Allen于1926年命名。分布在中国海南等地。该物种的模式产地在海南。

屋顶鼠滇西亚种（学名：Rattus rattus sladeni），Anderson于1879年命名。分布在台湾及中国大陆的江西、广西、贵州、云南、四川、江苏、广东、福建、浙江、湖北等地。该物种的模式产地在云南盈江蚌西。

The black rat (Rattus rattus), also known as the roof rat, ship rat, or house rat, is a common long-tailed rodent of the stereotypical rat genus Rattus, in the subfamily Murinae. It is a generalist omnivore that can live on a wide variety of foods. It associates extensively with humans, and most populations are synanthropic. It likely originated in the Indian subcontinent, but is now found worldwide.

The black rat is black to light brown in colour with a lighter underside. It is a prominent pest to farmers because it feeds on a wide range of agricultural crops. It is sometimes kept as a pet, though most domestic rats are a subspecies of the brown rat. In parts of India, it is considered sacred and respected, notably at the Karni Mata Temple in Deshnoke.

Taxonomy

Mus rattus was the scientific name proposed by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 for the black rat. Prior to 1881, the genus Mus included both rat and mouse species, but after 1881 rat species were assigned to the genus Epimys, in addition to the more modern Rattus classification.

Description

A typical adult black rat is 12.75 to 18.25 cm (5.02 to 7.19 in) long, not including a 15 to 22 cm (5.9 to 8.7 in) tail, and weighs 75 to 230 g (2.6 to 8.1 oz), depending on the subspecies. Despite its name, the black rat exhibits several colour forms. It is usually black to light brown in colour with a lighter underside. In England during the 1920s, several variations were bred and shown alongside domesticated brown rats. This included an unusual green-tinted variety.

• The species has three colour variants:
• Roof rat (R. rattus rattus) – slate black with a gray underside
• Alexandrine rat (R. rattus alexandrinus) – agouti and grey through slate grey

Origin

The black rat was present in prehistoric Europe and in the Levant during postglacial periods. The black rat in the Mediterranean region differs genetically from its South Asian ancestor by having 38 instead of 42 chromosomes. Its closest relative is the Asian house rat (R. tanezumi) from Southeast Asia. The two diverged about 120,000 years ago in southwestern Asia. It is unclear how the rat made its way to Europe due to insufficient data, although a land route seems more likely based on the distribution of European haplogroup "A".

Distribution and habitat

The black rat originated in India and Southeast Asia, and spread to the Near East and Egypt, and then throughout the Roman Empire, reaching Great Britain as early as the 1st century AD. Europeans subsequently spread it throughout the world. The black rat is again largely confined to warmer areas, having been supplanted by the brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) in cooler regions and urban areas. In addition to the brown rat being larger and more aggressive, the change from wooden structures and thatched roofs to bricked and tiled buildings favoured the burrowing brown rats over the arboreal black rats.

Behaviour and ecology

The black rat has a wide home range, typically foraging in a home range of 0.28–1.2 ha (0.69–2.97 acres). Its home range is highly dependent on its gender, as male rats range can be up to thrice that of female rats. Its home range also differs depending on the type of forest; home ranges in the southern beech forests of the South Island, New Zealand appear to be much larger than the non-beech forests of the North Island. Due to the limited number of rats that are studied in home range studies, the estimated sizes of rat home ranges in different rat demographic groups are inconclusive.

As an invasive species

Damage caused

After Rattus rattus was introduced into the northern islands of New Zealand, they fed on the seedlings, adversely affecting the ecology of the islands. R. rattus is known to destroy the nests of native birds, causing up to 96% of total nest predations. When consuming these seabirds and seabird eggs, these rats reduce the pH of the soil. This harms plant species by reducing nutrient availability in soil, thus decreasing the probability of seed germination. For example, research conducted by Hoffman et al. indicates a large impact on 16 indigenous plant species directly preyed on by R. rattus.