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HOME --> CLASS MAMMALIA
--> ORDER RODENTIA
--> SUBORDER MYOMORPHA
--> SUPERFAMILY Muroidea
--> FAMILY Muridae
--> SUBFAMILY Murinae
GENUS Spelaeomys
| Author: | Hooijer, 1957. | | Citation: | Zool. Meded. Leiden, 35: 306. | | Type Species: | Spelaeomys florensis Hooijer, 1957. | | Comments: | PogonomysDivision. Reviewed by Musser (1981c), who also recorded past opinions about phylogenetic affinities of Spelaeomys, noted that it is not closely related to the other Nusa Tenggara endemics Hooijeromys, Komodomys, Papagomys, or Paulamys, and hypothesized that "Spelaeomys belongs with the old native genera of New Guinea, possibly Australia, and likely Timor." Molar occlusal patterns and configuration of unreported cranial fragments (studied by Musser) resemble a giant version of species in New Guinea Pogonomys and Chiruromys. But additional data is required to test this notion of cladistic membership with the New Guinea endemics in the Pogonomys Division. The alternative hypothesis relates Spelaeomys to members of the Pithecheir Division, which is centered on the Sunda Shelf and Sulawesi. Two genera in that Division, Sundaic Lenothrix and Sulawesian Lenomys also have molar occlusal patterns resembling those in Spelaeomys (see illustrations in Musser, 1981c). |
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