Published December 31, 2005 | Version v1

Melomys leucogaster

Description

Melomys leucogaster (Jentink 1908)

[Melomys] leucogaster (Jentink 1908), Nova Guinea, 9: 3.

Type Locality: New Guinea, S Prov. of Papua (= Irian Jaya), Lorentz River, Alkmaar, 300 m.

Vernacular Names: White-bellied Melomys.

Synonyms: Melomys latipes Tate and Archbold 1935.

Distribution: New Guinea; primarily S side of Central Cordillera from the type locality in Prov. of Papua (= Irian Jaya) east through Papua New Guinea to the Mori River on the mainland (see Flannery, 1995 a:296), sea level to 1400 m (Menzies, 1996); also recorded from Jayapura (Hollandia) on north coast of Prov. of Papua (= Irian Jaya) (Tate, 1951), Yule Isl off the coast of E Papua New Guinea in Central Province, and small treeless offshore islands (Flannery, 1995 a).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: A close morphological relative of M. rufescens and placed in "The rufescens Division" of Melomys by Menzies (1996). Tate (1951:307) recorded four specimens (AMNH 152842-152845) from Hollandia (Jayapura) on the north coast of Prov. of Papua (= Irian Jaya, Indonesia), which is way outside of the known range of M. leucogaster, and thought by Menzies (1996:405) to be an error. Musser examined the rats, which are examples of M. leucogaster, and there is no indication in the catalog or other archival documents that they could have been collected elsewhere and mislabeled.

Notes

Published as part of Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Rodentia - Family Muridae, pp. 1189-1531 in Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 2, Baltimore :The Johns Hopkins University Press on page 1378, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7316535

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Linked records

Additional details

Biodiversity

Scientific name authorship
Jentink
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Order
Rodentia
Family
Muridae
Genus
Melomys
Species
leucogaster
Taxon rank
species
Taxonomic concept label
Melomys leucogaster (Jentink, 1908) sec. Wilson & Reeder, 2005

References

  • Tate, G. H. H., and R. Archbold. 1935. Results of the Archbold Expeditions. No. 3. Twelve apparently new forms of Muridae other than Rattus from the Indo-Australian region. American Museum Novitates, 803: 1 - 9.
  • Menzies, J. I. 1996. A systematic revision of Melomys (Rodentia: Muridae) of New Guinea. Australian Journal of Zoology, 44: 367 - 426.
  • Tate, G. H. H. 1951. Results of the Archbold Expeditions. No. 65. The rodents of Australia and New Guinea. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 97: 183 - 430.