Brown Rat vs

Rattus norvegicus compared with Physarum viride

Key Differences

• Brown Rat is Least Concern while is Not Evaluated.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Brown Rat
Kingdom	Animalia (Animals)	Protozoa (protozoa)
Phylum	Chordata (Chordates)	Mycetozoa
Class	Mammalia (Mammals)	Myxomycetes (Myxomycetes)
Order	Rodentia (Rodents)	Physarales (Physarales)
Family	Muridae (Mice & Rats)	Physaraceae
Genus	Rattus	Physarum
Species	Rattus norvegicus	Physarum viride

Conservation Status

Brown Rat

LC — Least Concern

NE — Not Evaluated

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Brown Rat
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Brown Rat

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests, and tropical and subtropical grasslands and savannas, among 10 distinct biome types. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (11 countries), Asia (15 countries), Europe (41 countries), North America (16 countries), Oceania and the Pacific (10 countries), and South America (10 countries).

Habitat

Native to Asia and Europe and North America, inhabiting ecosystems characteristic of the region.

Range

Widely distributed across Asia (Taiwan), Europe (Belgium, Norway, Sweden), North America (United States), and South America (Brazil).

Brown Rat

Brown Rat (Rattus norvegicus) is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List. Widespread and abundant across its range, with stable populations and no immediate conservation concerns.

Physarum viride is a vibrantly coloured myxomycete (slime mould) producing small, bright yellow-green sporangia on decaying organic matter including dead wood, leaves, and litter in forest habitats. Like all Physarum species, it spends part of its life as a multinucleate plasmodium that creeps across substrates to engulf food particles. This species is found in moist woodlands across temperate and tropical zones.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 6 countries:

🇧🇪 Belgium 🇧🇷 Brazil 🇳🇴 Norway 🇸🇪 Sweden 🇹🇼 Taiwan 🇺🇸 United States