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HOME --> CLASS MAMMALIA  --> ORDER RODENTIA  --> SUBORDER MYOMORPHA  --> SUPERFAMILY Muroidea  --> FAMILY Muridae  --> SUBFAMILY Murinae  --> GENUS Melomys

SPECIES Melomys caurinus

Author:Thomas, 1921.
Citation:Treubia, 2: 112.
Common Name:Short-tailed Talaud Melomys
Type Locality:Indonesia, Kepulauan Talaud, Pulau Karakelang.
Distribution:Recorded only by four specimens from Pulau Karakelang and Pulau Salebabu (MZB) in the Talaud Isls (Helgen, 2003b).
Comments:Morphologically very similar to M. leucogaster (Menzies, 1996; our own study of the specimens discussed by Flannery, 1995b). Originally described as a species, but Rümmler (1938) and Ellerman (1941) treated caurinus as a subspecies of M. leucogaster, Musser and Carleton (1993) listed it in the synonymy of that species, and Laurie and Hill (1954) arranged it as a subspecies of M. fulgens. Tate (1951) recognized caurinus as a distinct species as have Flannery (1995b) and Menzies (1996). It is sympatric with M. talaudium, which has a longer tail relative to head and body length, suggesting that M. caurinus may be terrestrial and M. talaudium arboreal (Flannery, 1995b; Thomas, 1921i). Except for tail length these two species are hardly distinguishable in cranial and dental features and to Flannery (1995b:132) "there seems little doubt that these two species have evolved in the Talaud Isls from a common ancestor."
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