Melomys

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Melomys
Temporal range: Pleistocene to recent
Melomys cervinipes1.jpg
Melomys cervinipes
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Muridae
Tribe: Hydromyini
Genus: Melomys
Thomas, 1922
Type species
Uromys rufescens [1]
Species

See text

Melomys is a genus of rodents in the family Muridae. Members of this genus live in the wet habitats of northern Australia (Far North Queensland), New Guinea, Torres Strait Islands and islands of the Indonesian archipelago. [2] [3]

Species

The genus contains the following species:

Related Research Articles

The dusky mosaic-tailed rat is a species of rodent in the family Muridae.

The Bougainville mosaic-tailed rat is a species of rodent in the family Muridae.

The grassland mosaic-tailed rat, or grassland melomys, is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found in Australia and Papua New Guinea. In Australia it is found along the northern coast from Kimberley to New South Wales. In the Top End it is often found in Pandanus. Kunwinjku of western Arnhem Land call this animal mulbbu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fawn-footed mosaic-tailed rat</span> Species of rodent

The fawn-footed mosaic-tailed rat, or fawn-footed melomys is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found along eastern coastal regions of Australia.

The Manusela mosaic-tailed rat is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found only in Indonesia. It lives in the rainforests on the island of Seram in Indonesia. Specimens of it weigh 66.5g and have a head and body length of 118-135mm and a tail length of 126–140mm.

The white-bellied mosaic-tailed rat is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found in West Papua, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

The Obi mosaic-tailed rat is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found only in Indonesia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bramble Cay melomys</span> Recently extinct species of rodent

The Bramble Cay melomys, or Bramble Cay mosaic-tailed rat, is a recently extinct species of rodent in the family Muridae and subfamily Murinae. It was an endemic species of the isolated Bramble Cay, a low-lying vegetated coral cay with a habitable area of approximately 5 acres located at the northern tip of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Described by researchers as having last been seen in 2009 and declared extinct by the Queensland Government and University of Queensland researchers in 2016, it was formally declared extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in May 2015 and the Australian government in February 2019. Having been the only mammal endemic to the reef, its extinction was described as the first extinction of a mammal species due to anthropogenic climate change.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bramble Cay</span> Island in Queensland, Australia

Bramble Cay, also known as Maizab Kaur and Massaramcoer, is a small cay located at the northeastern edge of Australia and the Torres Strait Islands of Queensland and at the northern end of the Great Barrier Reef. Lying around 50 km (31 mi) north of Erub Island in the Gulf of Papua, it is the northernmost point of land of Australia and marks the end of the Great Barrier Reef.

Bannister's rat, or great Key Island mosaic-tailed rat, or great Key Island melomys or great Kai Island melomys is a species of rodent of the genus Melomys. It is endemic to the Kai Besar, one of the islands which are part of the Maluku Islands, Indonesia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Banda Sea Islands moist deciduous forests</span> Ecoregion in Banda Sea, Indonesia

The Banda Sea Islands moist deciduous forests is a tropical moist forest ecoregion in Indonesia. The ecoregion includes several island groups in the southwestern Banda Sea, including the Tanimbar Islands, Kai Islands, and the Barat Daya Islands except for Wetar.

The Yamdena mosaic-tailed rat is a species of rat belonging to the family Muridae. It was first described in 1995 from specimens found on Yamdena Island in Indonesia. No other examples of this species have been found; as a result very little is known about it. IUCN lists it as Data Deficient.

The Pavel's Seram mosaic-tailed rat is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found only on the south coast of the island of Seram in Indonesia. At one time it was thought to be a subspecies of the black-tailed mosaic-tailed rat but in 2005, Musser and Carleton raised it to full species level. The IUCN has insufficient information on which to assess its conservation status so it is listed as "data deficient".

The short-tailed Talaud mosaic-tailed rat or the short-tailed Talaud melomys is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is endemic to Karakelong and Salebabu in the Talaud Islands in Indonesia where it occurs in forest habitats. The long-tailed Talaud mosaic-tailed rat is also present on the islands and the shorter tail of this species means that it is likely to be mainly terrestrial whereas M. talaudium is largely arboreal.

The long-tailed Talaud mosaic-tailed rat or the long-tailed Talaud melomys is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is endemic to Karakelong and Salebabu in the Talaud Islands in Indonesia where it occurs in forest habitats. It is morphologically similar to the white-bellied mosaic-tailed rat and was at one time considered to be a subspecies but is now recognised as a distinct species. The short-tailed mosaic-tailed rat is also present on the islands and the shorter tail of that species means that it is likely to be mainly terrestrial whereas M. talaudium is largely arboreal.

The Snow Mountains grassland mosaic-tailed rat, also known as the Snow Mountains grassland melomys, is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is endemic to the mountainous west part of the island of New Guinea, where its range extends from Lake Habbema to the Baliem Valley, in Papua Province, Indonesia. It is present at altitudes between 1,600 and 2,200 metres above sea level. It is found in grassland and other disturbed areas.

The Seram long-tailed mosaic-tailed rat, also known as the Seram long-tailed melomys, is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found only on the south coast of the island of Seram in Indonesia. At one time it was thought to be a subspecies of the white-bellied mosaic-tailed rat but was subsequently raised to full species level. It differs from that species in having a much longer, scale-free tail with a calloused tip which is likely to be prehensile and used while climbing trees.

The Riama mosaic-tailed rat, is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found only on the island of Riama in Indonesia, a small island to the west of Selaru in the Tanimbar Islands. Very little is known about this species, but it may also be present on some of the other islands in this group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hydromyini</span> Tribe of rodents

Hydromyini is a very large, diverse tribe of muroid rodents in the subfamily Murinae. They are the dominant native rodents in Australasia and one of only two native rodent groups there, the other being the R. fuscipes group of the genus Rattus in the tribe Rattini. They are also found in parts of Southeast Asia.

References

  1. Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M., eds. (2005). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN   978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC   62265494.
  2. Breed, Bill; Ford, Fred (2007). Native Mice and Rats. CSIRO Publishing. pp. 31–32. ISBN   978-0-643-09166-5.
  3. "A new species of Melomys (Rodentia, Muridae) From Yamdena Island, Tanimbar Group, Eastern Indonesia". Western Australian Museum. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  4. "Barrier Reef rodent is first mammal declared extinct due to climate change". University of Queensland. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  5. Purtill, James (20 February 2019). "An Australian rodent has become the first climate change mammal extinction". Triple J Hack. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 21 February 2019.