Talk:Timor giant rat

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Article conflates 2 species[edit]

This article conflates two species. The taxobox and lead present Coryphomys musseri but some cited sources are about C. buhleri. C. musseri was described after C. buhleri and the describers examined material they considered to belong to both species. I'm not find any evidence that the two species have been subsequently regarded as synonymous (and if they were, C. buhleri would have priority). Julien Louys apparently recognizes seven species of giant rats from Timor (see [1]; (I get a notification that the discovery.com source in the article is a security threat, but I'm pretty sure it is based on this press release)), and additional species from other islands in the Lesser Sundas (see [2]). "Timor giant rat" isn't used as a vernacular name in any sources with good reliability. I suppose an article about rat gigantism in Timor (or the Lesser Sundas more broadly) could be appropriate, but this article is not a good attempt at that.

My inclination would be to return this to draft space under the title Coryphomys musseri (with the mainspace title "Timor giant rat" left as a redlink), and sources referring to C. buhleri removed from the draft. There is a stub about C. buhleri at Buhler's coryphomys. That should be redirected to Coryphomys. @Elmidae:, since you took this out of draft space, what are your thoughts? Plantdrew (talk) 01:58, 21 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Plantdrew: shucks, hadn't noticed this. Yes, clearly that's a conflation; agree with renaming to Coryphomys musseri and removal of buhleri sources. Draftify or just leave in mainspace as stub? --Elmidae (talk · contribs) 02:44, 21 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]