HOME --> CLASS MAMMALIA
--> ORDER RODENTIA
--> SUBORDER MYOMORPHA
--> SUPERFAMILY Muroidea
--> FAMILY Muridae
--> SUBFAMILY Murinae
--> GENUS Melomys
SPECIES Melomys fulgens
Author: | Thomas, 1920. | Citation: | Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, 6: 426. | Common Name: | Seram Long-tailed Melomys | Type Locality: | Indonesia, S Pulau Seram, Teluk Taluti (=Teloeti Bay). | Distribution: | Recorded only from the southern coast of Seram Isl. | Comments: | Still known only by the holotype and one other specimen (in BMNH; Helgen, 2003b). Originally described as a Uromys, arranged as a subspecies of M. leucogaster by Rümmler (1938) and Ellerman (1941), placed in synonymy of that species by Musser and Carleton (1993), but treated as a distinct species by Tate (1951), Laurie and Hill (1954), Flannery (1995b), and Menzies (1996). Although superficially very similar in its morphology to M. leucogaster, it has a much longer tail relative to length of head and body that is scaleless and calloused near the tip, indicating dorsal prehensility, an adaptation absent in the shorter-tailed M. leucogaster. Reviewed by Flannery (1995b) and Helgen (2003b). |
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