Lesser stick-nest rat | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Rodentia |
Family: | Muridae |
Genus: | Leporillus |
Species: | †L. apicalis
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Binomial name | |
†Leporillus apicalis (Gould, 1854)
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Synonyms | |
Hapalotis apicalis Gould.[2] |
The lesser stick-nest rat or white-tipped stick-nest rat (Leporillus apicalis) is an extinct species of rodent in the family Muridae. It lived in central Australia where it built nests of sticks that accumulate over years and can become very large. The last confirmed sighting of this rat was in 1933 although there is a credible report of a sighting in 1970. In 2008, the International Union for Conservation of Nature listed it as "critically endangered", suggesting that it may yet survive in remote areas of unsurveyed territory, but revised its evaluation to "extinct" again in 2016, based on an assessment in 2012.[1]