Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Type: Articles
Published: 2005-03-21
Page range: 1–20
Abstract views: 37
PDF downloaded: 3

The amphibious murines of New Guinea (Rodentia, Muridae): the generic status of Baiyankamys and description of a new species of Hydromys

School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005 Australia South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide, SA 5000 Australia
Mammalia Hydromys Baiyankamys New Guinea taxonomy North Coast Ranges amphibious rat

Abstract

The amphibious murine rodents of New Guinea have traditionally been classified in three genera: Hydromys E. Geoffroy, 1804, Parahydromys Poche, 1906, and Crossomys Thomas, 1907. Species currently classified in Hydromys can be further divided into two cladistic groups: species distributed in lowland habitats (below 2000 m) with glossy, dark brown dorsal pelage, and species restricted to upper montane rivers and lakes (generally above 2000 m) with soft, silvery grey dorsal pelage. These two groups differ not only in pelage traits and habitat association but also in craniodental and phallic anatomy. The generic-level name Baiyankamys Hinton, 1943, is resurrected for the latter cluster (which includes two species, B. shawmayeri of eastern New Guinea and B. habbema of west-central New Guinea). Additionally, a new species of Hydromys (H. ziegleri n. sp.) is described from the southern foothills of the Prince Alexander Range of Papua New Guinea. Mammalian zoogeography in the North Coast Ranges, an area of considerable geographicallyrestricted mammalian endemism, is reviewed.

References

  1. Allison, A. & Kraus, F. (2000) A new species of frog of the genus Xenorhina (Anura : Microhylidae) from the north coast ranges of Papua New Guinea. Herpetologica, 56, 285–294.

    Allison, A. & Kraus, F. (2003) A new species of Austrochaperina (Anura : Microhylidae) from northern Papua New Guinea. Journal of Herpetology, 37, 637–644.

    Aplin, K. P., Pasveer, J. M. & Boles, W.E. (1999) Late Quaternary vertebrates from the Birds Head Peninsula, Irian Jaya, Indonesia, including descriptions of two previously unknown marsupial species. Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement 57, 351–387.

    Breed, W.G. & Aplin, K.P. (1995) Sperm morphology of murid rodents from New Guinea and the Solomon Islands: phylogenetic implications. Australian Journal of Zoology, 43, 17–30.

    Diamond, J.M. (1972) Avifauna of the Eastern Highlands of New Guinea, Publications of the Nuttall Ornithological Club (No. 12): Cambridge, Massachusetts, 438 pp.

    Diamond, J.M. (1985) New distributional records and taxa from the outlying mountain ranges of New Guinea. Emu, 85, 65–91.

    Ellerman, J.R. (1941) The Families and Genera of Living Rodents, Volume II, Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History): London, 690 pp.

    Flannery, T.F. (1990) Mammals of New Guinea, Robert Brown and Associates: Carina, Queensland, 440 pp.

    Flannery, T.F. (1993) Taxonomy of Dendrolagus goodfellowi (Macropodidae: Marsupialia) with description of a new subspecies. Records of the Australian Museum, 45, 33–42.

    Flannery, T.F. (1995) Mammals of New Guinea, revised edition, Reed Books: Ithaca, New York, 568 pp.

    Flannery, T.F. (1999) The Pleistocene mammal fauna of Kelangurr Cave, central montane Irian Jaya, Indonesia. Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement 57, 341–350.

    Flannery, T.F. & Colgan, D.J. (1993) A new species and two new subspecies of Hipposideros (Chiroptera) from western Papua New Guinea. Records of the Australian Museum, 45, 43–57.

    Flannery, T.F. & Groves, C.P. (1998) A revision of the genus Zaglossus (Monotremata, Tachyglossidae), with description of new species and subspecies. Mammalia, 62, 367–396.

    Flannery, T.F., Martin, R., & Szalay, A. (1996) Tree Kangaroos: A Curious Natural History, Reed Books: Melbourne, 202 pp.

    Flannery, T.F. & Seri, L. (1990a) The mammals of southern West Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea: their distribution, abundance, human use, and zoogeography. Records of the Australian Museum, 42, 173–208.

    Flannery, T.F. & Seri, L. (1990b) Dendrolagus scottae n. sp. (Marsupialia: Macropodidae): a new tree-kangaroo from Papua New Guinea. Records of the Australian Museum, 42, 237–245.

    Helgen, K.M. (2003) 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.

    Helgen, K.M. (2005) A new species of murid rodent (genus Mayermys) from south-eastern New Guinea. Mammalian Biology, 70, 61–67.

    Helgen, K.M. & Flannery, T.F. (2004) A new species of bandicoot, Microperoryctes aplini, from western New Guinea. Journal of Zoology (London), 264, 117–124.

    Hinton, M.A.C. (1943) Preliminary diagnoses of five new murine rodents from New Guinea. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (series 11), 10, 552–557.

    Kraus, F. & Allison, A. (2000) Two new species of Cophixalus from New Guinea. Journal of Herpetology, 34, 535–541.

    Leary, T. & Seri, L. (1997) An annotated checklist of mammals recorded in the Kikori River Basin, Papua New Guinea. Science in New Guinea, 23, 79–100.

    Lidicker, W.Z., Jr. (1968) A phylogeny of New Guinea rodent genera based on phallic morphology. Journal of Mammalogy, 49, 609–643.

    Lidicker, W.Z., Jr. (1973) A phenetic analysis of some New Guinea rodents. Systematic Zoology, 22, 36–45.

    Mahoney, J.A. (1968) Baiyankamys Hinton, 1943 (Muridae, Hydromyinae), a New Guinea rodent genus named for an incorrectly associated skin and skull (Hydromyinae, Hydromys) and mandible (Murinae, Rattus). Mammalia, 32, 64–71.

    Menzies, J.I. & Dennis, E. (1979) Handbook of New Guinea Rodents. Wau Ecology Institute (Handbook No. 6): Wau, Papua New Guinea, 68 pp.

    Musser, G.G. & Carleton, M.D. (1993) Family Muridae. In: Wilson, D.E. & Reeder, D.R. (Eds.), Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, second edition, Smithsonian Institution Press: Washington, D.C., pp. 501–755.

    Musser, G.G. & Heaney, L.R. (1992) Philippine rodents: definitions of Tarsomys and Limnomys plus a preliminary assessment of phylogenetic patterns among native Philippine murines (Murinae, Muridae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 211, 1–138.

    Musser, G.G. & Carleton, M.D. (in press) Family Muridae. In: Wilson, D.E. & Reeder, D.R. (Eds.), Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, second edition, Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore, in press.

    Musser, G.G. & Piik, E. (1982) A new species of Hydromys (Muridae) from western New Guinea (Irian Jaya). Zoologische Mededelingen, 56, 153–166.

    Osgood, W.H. (1945) A new rodent from Dutch New Guinea. Fieldiana (Zoology), 31, 1–2.

    Peterhans, J.C.K., & Patterson, B.D. (1995) The Ethiopian water mouse Nilopegamys Osgood, with comments on semiaquatic adaptations in African Muridae. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 113, 329–349.

    Stattersfield, A.J., Corsby, M.J., Long, A.J. & Wege, D.C. (1998) Global Directory of Endemic Bird Areas, BirdLife International: Cambridge, U.K., 846 pp.

    Tate, G.H.H. (1951a) A second specimen of the Papuan earless water rat, Crossomys moncktoni. American Museum Novitates, 1523, 1–4.

    Tate, G.H.H. (1951b) 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.

    Tate, G.H.H. & Archbold, R. (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.

    Tate, G.H.H. & Archbold, R. (1941) Results of the Archbold Expeditions. No. 31. New rodents and marsupials from New Guinea. American Museum Novitates, 1101, 1–9.

    Thomas, O. (1907) On three new mammals from British New Guinea. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (series 7), 20, 70–74.

    Voss, R.S. (1998) Systematics and ecology of icthyomyine rodents (Muroidea): patterns of morphological evolution in a small adaptive radiation. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 188, 259–493.

    Watts, C.H.S. & Baverstock, P.R. (1994) Evolution in New Guinean Muridae (Rodentia) assessed by microcomplement fixation of albumin. Australian Journal of Zoology, 42, 295–306.

    Wikramanayake, E., Dinerstein, E. Loucks, C.J., et al. (2002) Terrestrial Ecoregions of the Indo-Pacific: A Conservation Assessment, Island Press: Washington, D.C., 643 pp.

    Ziegler, A.C. (1981) Petaurus abidi, a new species of glider (Marsupialia: Petauridae) from Papua New Guinea. Australian Mammalogy, 4, 81–88.

    Ziegler, A.C. (1984) A Papua New Guinea specimen of Hydromys hussoni Musser & Piik, 1982 (Rodentia: Muridae). Australian Mammalogy, 7, 101–105.