Hypsiprymnodon moschatus Ramsay 1875

Hypsiprymnodon moschatus Ramsay, 1875

Sydney Morning Herald LXXII (11,659): 2, col. 4. (1 October 1875).

Common name. Musky Rat-kangaroo.

Current name. Hypsiprymnodon moschatus Ramsay, 1875. Although this species is usually attributed to Ramsay (1876c), published in February, his detailed newspaper account takes precedence.

Syntypes. (2, by subsequent determination). Both entered in Palmer Register c. 1879, donated by E. P. Ramsay, collected from “Cardwell”, “mounted”, PA.1135 entered as “type of species”, no other data. PA.1135, male, skin mount, no skull. Small cardboard tag tied to right pes has “3” printed. An X-ray image taken in 2013 confirmed that neither cranium nor dentaries are in the skin mount. PA.1136, female, skin mount, skull in situ. In his original account Ramsay (1875) implies that his material was obtained by K. Broadbent. Neither skin mount has original Ramsay era tags.

Condition. PA.1135, skin mount, both ear tips are torn, feet have remnants of glue, skin tear in the left front limb, scrotum almost detached. PA.1136, skin mount, both ear tips are torn, feet have remnants of glue, bald patch near elbow of both front limbs, bald patch on anterior side of both back limbs.

Type locality. Rockingham Bay area, Cardwell (Ramsay), Qld, Australia.

Comments. In his original description, Ramsay cites both cranial and external characters but does not give any measurements nor indicate the total number of specimens upon which he founded the species. He states that “the posterior and basal portions of the skull have been cut away” but the fate of the skull is not known nor is it known with which specimen it is associated. The skull has been extracted from skin PA.1135 at an unknown date. The specimen index card for that specimen, written early in the 20th century, indicates the skull is in the skin although the possibility that this was a misjudgment cannot be excluded. Cranial or dental measurements were not given by Ramsay, hindering efforts to determine if the skull is amongst material in the AM Collection. Ramsay (1875; 1876c) mentions that he obtained several specimens, without indicating how many. It is likely that only two were lodged in the AM Collection. The A Register entry for April 1875, before numbers were assigned to specimens, lists “2 skins of a new species and genus of marsupial rat Hypsiprymnodon moschatus ” from E. P. Ramsay. Perhaps Ramsay retained one or more additional specimens for his private collection. He later stated (Ramsay, 1888a: 1296) that he had obtained five specimens of this species in 1874, and a further two by 1888. Two specimens, evidently the latter two, were registered in the AM in 1881 (A.9813 from Cardwell) and February 1888 (M.154, from “ Queensland ”) and these are the only specimens on the AM database that were obtained prior to 1890 other than the two syntypes. In his original description Ramsay describes fur colour of “the young” and stated that a half grown animal was shot by Broadbent in March 1874 but that specimen has not been accounted for since. Owen (1877) based his Pleopus on a male and female received from Ramsay, and Thomas (1888a) indicates that a male and female purchased from the AM are cotypes of Pleopus and lists both as skins and skulls. It therefore appears that the type series was at least five specimens, of which only two appear to have been registered in the AM. A skin mount from Rockingham Bay labelled “type” in the MMUS (M.458) is possibly one of Ramsay’s syntypes but has not been verified because collector or year of collection is not recorded.