Melomys talaudium
Authors/Creators
Description
Melomys talaudium (Thomas 1921)
[Melomys] talaudium (Thomas 1921), Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, 7: 248.
Type Locality: Indonesia, Kepulauan Talaud, Pulau Salebabu, Lirung.
Vernacular Names: Long-tailed Talaud Melomys.
Distribution: Recorded only from the islands of Karakelang and Salebabu in the Talaud Isls (specimens in BMNH and MZB; Helgen, 2003 b).
Discussion: Morphologically similar to M. leucogaster (Menzies, 1996; our own study of the specimens discussed by Flannery, 1995 b). Originally described as a species, but Rümmler (1938) and Ellerman (1941) treated talaudium as a subspecies of M. leucogaster, Musser and Carleton (1993) listed it in the synonymy of that species, and Laurie and Hill (1954) arranged it as a subspecies of M. fulgens. Tate (1951) recognized talaudium as a distinct species as have Flannery (1995 b) and Menzies (1996). It is sympatric with M. caurinus, which has a shorter tail relative to head and body length, suggesting that M. caurinus may be terrestrial and M. talaudium arboreal (Flannery, 1995 b; Thomas, 1921 i). Except for tail length these two species are hardly distinguishable in cranial and dental features and to Flannery (1995 b:132) "there seems little doubt that these two species have evolved in the Talaud islands from a common ancestor.".
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Linked records
Additional details
Identifiers
Related works
- Is part of
- Book chapter: 10.5281/zenodo.7316535 (DOI)
- Book chapter: http://publication.plazi.org/id/A2267A57FF8A65DA07E1D2E970F9422A (URL)
- Is source of
- https://biodiversitypmc.sibils.org/collections/plazi/71889FF4461EDF2A6FA9B755085D9223 (URL)
- https://www.gbif.org/species/231540207 (URL)
Biodiversity
References
- Helgen, K. M. 2003 b. A review of the rodent fauna of Seram, Moluccas, with the description of a new subspecies of mosaic-tailed rat, Melomys rufescens paveli. Journal of Zoology, London, 261: 165 - 172.
- Menzies, J. I. 1996. A systematic revision of Melomys (Rodentia: Muridae) of New Guinea. Australian Journal of Zoology, 44: 367 - 426.
- Ellerman, J. R. 1941. The families and genera of living rodents. Vol. II. Family Muridae. British Museum (Natural History), London, 690 pp.
- Musser, G. G., and M. D. Carleton. 1993. Family Muridae. Pp. 501 - 755, in: Mammal species of the world, a taxonomic and geographic reference, Second ed. (D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder, eds.). Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D. C., xviii + 1206 pp.
- Laurie, E. M. O., and J. E. Hill. 1954. List of land mammals of New Guinea, Celebes and adjacent islands 1758 - 1952. British Museum (Natural History) Publications, London, 175 pp.
- 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.
- Thomas, O. 1921 i. On a collection of rats and shrews from the Dutch East Indian Islands. Treubia, 2: 109 - 114.