Order Rodentia - Family Muridae Author Guy G. Musser Author Michael D. Carleton text 1993 Smithsonian Institution Press Washington and London Editor Don E. Wilson Editor DeeAnn M. Reeder Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition) 501 755 book chapter http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7353098 1-56098-217-9 7353098 Melanomys Thomas, 1902 . Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, 10:248 . TYPE SPECIES: Oryzomys phaeopus Thomas, 1894 (= Hesperomys caliginosus Tomes, 1860 ). COMMENTS: Oryzomyine. A morphologically distinctive group usually arranged as a subgenus of Oryzomys since Goldman's (1918) revision (e.g., Tate, 1932e ; Ellerman, 1941 ; Cabrera, 1961; Hall, 1981 ). Allen (1913) , however, provided morphological criteria, as contrasted to the type species (= Mus palustris ) of Oryzomys , defending his retention of Melanomys as a genus; its synonymy in Oryzomys proper deserves more rigorous, character-based, phylogenetic substantiation. The taxon has not been revised; the nominal species listed stem from Cabrera (1961), who acknowledged his solely literature-based interpretation as provisional.