Order Rodentia - Family Muridae Author Wilson, Don E. Author Reeder, DeeAnn text 2005 The Johns Hopkins University Press Baltimore Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 2 1189 1531 book chapter 0-8018-8221-4 10.5281/zenodo.7316535 Desmomys Thomas 1910 Desmomys Thomas 1910 , Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, 5: 284 . Type Species: Pelomys harringtoni Thomas 1902 Species and subspecies: 2 species: Species Desmomys harringtoni (Thomas 1902) Species Desmomys yaldeni Lavrenchenko 2003 Discussion: Arvicanthis Division. Listed as a genus by G. M. Allen (1939) , but usually treated as a subgenus of Pelomys ( Corbet and Hill, 1991 ; Ellerman, 1941 ; Rupp, 1980 ; Yalden et al., 1976 ). Most of the diagnostic traits described by Thomas (1910 b ) are outside the range of morphological variation seen among species of Pelomys . Our study of specimens revealed that general external traits and cranial conformation of D. harringtoni resemble species of Mylomys and Pelomys , but that Desmomys has its own derived dental patterns (ridge-like cusp t9 connecting central cusp t8 with labial cusp t6 on M1 and M2, ridge-like cusp t7 on M2). Chromosomal data also support the extraction of D. harringtoni from Pelomys ( Capanna et al., 1996 a ) . Analyses of mtDNA sequences of cytochrome b , along with 12S and 16S ribosomal rRNA gene fragments support membership of Desmomys in an Arvicanthis Group and indicate it to be in the same lineage as Rhabdomys , which is distinct from a lineage containing Lemniscomys , and another formed by Arvicanthis , Mylomys , and Pelomys ( Ducroz et al., 2001 ) . See account of Mylomys for status of rex , which is usually placed in Desmomys ( Yalden et al., 1976 ) .