HOME --> CLASS MAMMALIA
--> ORDER RODENTIA
--> SUBORDER MYOMORPHA
--> SUPERFAMILY Muroidea
--> FAMILY Muridae
--> SUBFAMILY Murinae
--> GENUS Hydromys
SPECIES Hydromys chrysogaster
Author: | E. Geoffroy, 1804. | Citation: | Bull. Sci. Soc. Philom. Paris, 93: 354. | Common Name: | Common Water Rat | Type Locality: | Australia, Tasmania, Bruny Isl (see Mahoney and Richardson, 1988:157). | Distribution: | Australia: freshwater lakes and rivers as well as swamp, salt marsh, and supralittoral habitats (absent from C Australian region); also found on Tasmania and numerous smaller islands off the coast of Australia (Friend and Thomas, 1990; Robinson et al., 2000; Rounsevell et al., 1991; Seebeck, 1995b; Watts and Aslin, 1981:67); Kai Isls and Aru Isls. New Guinea: throughout most of the island from sea level to 1900 m (Flannery, 1990b:188; 1995a:237;). Also on the Melanesian and Wallacean islands of Goodenough, Yapen, Biak, Kiriwina, Fergusson, Normanby, and Obi (Flannery, 1995b ). | Status: | IUCN – Lower Risk (lc). | Comments: | Chromosomal data presented by Baverstock et al. (1977c, 1983b). Morphology of spermatozoa and male reproductive tract discussed in context of comparative study of Australian murines (Breed, 1984, 1986; Breed and Sarafis, 1978; Morrissey and Breed, 1982). References to distributional, taxonomic, and biological literature for Australia cataloged by Mahoney and Richardson (1988:156). Significance of variation in body size and pelage color needs to be assessed in context of careful systematic revision of the species; more than one species likely exists among available samples (the single specimen from Obi Isl, for example, likely represents a separate species, as does a very small-bodied specimen from highland oak forest on Goodenough Isl, which may be a montane endemic distinct from H. chrysogaster in the lowlands; K. Helgen, in litt., 2003). Australian population reviewed by Olsen (1995), New Guinea by Flannery (1995a). Leary and Seri (1997) reported specimens from Mt Sisa in Papua New Guinea. Aplin et al. (1999) reported a specimen of this species from a Holocene archaeological site on the Ayamaru Plateau, central Bird’s Head Peninsula of West Papua. |
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| Offspring: | Synonyms:
apicalis Kuhl, 1820 beccarii Peters, 1874 caurinus Thomas, 1909 esox Thomas, 1906 flaviventer Owen, 1840-1845 fuliginosus Gould, 1853 fulvogaster Jourdan, 1837 fulvolavatus Gould, 1853 fulvoventer Cuvier, 1837 grootensis Troughton, 1935 illuteus Thomas, 1922 lawnensis Troughton, 1935 leucogaster Geoffroy, 1804 longmani Thomas, 1923 lutrilla Gould, 1853 melicertes Thomas, 1921 moae Troughton, 1935 nauticus Thomas, 1921 oriens Troughton, 1937 reginae Thomas and Dollman, 1909
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