The name sounds native, but it's not

[elpatitojuan2]

@fffffffff

Norwegian rat

And that it’s a very ‘‘tricky’’ name, I mean, I would really believe it’s from Norway just from the name.

[dianastuder]

wiki says from Atlantic slave trade

[jnstuart]

@jasonhernandez74

Which is also the reason you will find species from the Great Plains with ludovicianus in their specific epithet. It refers to the entire Louisiana Purchase, not today’s state of Louisiana.

That’s interesting and I somehow never made that connection with the specific epithet. Cynomys ludovicianus is the Black-tailed Prairie Dog and occurs nowhere near modern-day Louisiana but it was first described in 1815 (following the Lewis & Clark expedition) from the Great Plains, at that time part of the Louisiana Purchase acquired by the US in 1803.