Mammelomys Menzies 1996

Mammelomys Menzies 1996, Aust. J. Zool., 44: 383.

Type Species: Melomys rattoides Thomas 1922

Species and subspecies: 2 species:

Species Mammelomys lanosus (Thomas 1922)

Species Mammelomys rattoides (Thomas 1922)

Discussion: Pogonomys Division. Member of New Guinea Old Endemics. Originally included in Melomys. Generic diagnosis based primarily on morphometric analyses (Menzies, 1996), some qualitative cranial and dental features, extremely long hind feet with very short first digit, single pair of teats (not found in any other Papuan murine), and spermatozoal morphology (Breed and Aplin, 1994). The monophyly of rattoides and lanosus relative to Melomys, Uromys, and their close relatives in our Uromys Division is strongly supported by albumin immunology, which indicated they are not part of the core species defining either Uromys or Melomys, and judged from immunological distances (Watts and Baverstock, 1994 a) and sperm morphology (Breed and Aplin, 1994) could not properly be placed in either of those genera. Our study of specimens in AMNH and BMNH revealed that the two species share a derived cephalic arterial circulation and its osseous reflection in the cranium (see Musser and Heaney, 1992; Musser et al., 1998) that is not found in any other genus in our Uromys Division (traits not mentioned by Menzies, 1996). Our inclusion of Mammelomys in the Pogonomys Division is provisional, but concordant with sperm morphology (Breed and Aplin, 1994), and a better estimate of its cladistic relationships than is placement in a group close to Melomys. Mammelomys contains two species, both revised by Menzies (1996).