Pseudohydromys ellermani Laurie and Hill 1954

Pseudohydromys ellermani Laurie and Hill 1954

Pseudohydromys ellermani Laurie and Hill 1954, List of Land Mammals of New Guinea, Celebes and Adjacent Islands, 1952 [check this - is this listed as pub date?]: 134.

Type Locality: Papua New Guinea, Chimbu Province, Bismarck Range, N slopes Mt Wilhelm, 8000 ft (2440 m).

Vernacular Names: Shaw Mayer's Shrew Mouse.

Distribution: New Guinea: known from montane forest localities scattered along the Central Cordillera from Porokma in the Lake Habbema area (Snow Mtns) of Prov. of Papua (= Irian Jaya) through the Telefomin region in W Papua New Guinea eastward to the Wau area and all the way to near Agaun near the E portion of the Owen Stanley Range (Flannery 1995 a:245, as Mayermys).

Conservation: IUCN – Vulnerable as Mayermys ellermani.

Discussion: The type species of Mayermys (Laurie and Hill, 1954). Flannery (1990 b:183, 1995 a) provided a photograph of the animal and a summary of distributional and biological data. This small-bodied mouse is unique among all living muroid rodents in having only four minute molars (12 is usual, three in each quadrant of the jaw). An undescribed species related to P. ellermani occurs in the SE peninsula of Papua New Guinea (K. Helgen, in litt., 2003). Of the species in Pseudohydromys, P. ellermani is the only one with with a distribution in both western and eastern portions of the Central Cordillera.