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
Coccymys ruemmleri
(Tate and Archbold 1941)
[Pogonomelomys] ruemmleri
Tate and Archbold 1941
,
Am.
Mus
. Novit., 1101: 6
.
Type Locality:
New
Guinea
, Prov. of Papua (= Irian Jaya), Snow Mtns (Pengunungan Maoke), N slope Mt Wilhelmina, Lake Habbema,
3225 m
.
Vernacular Names:
Rummler's Coccymys
.
Synonyms:
Coccymys shawmayeri
(
Hinton 1943
)
.
Distribution:
New
Guinea
; Central Cordillera from Mt Wilhelmina in the Snow Mtns (Pegunungan Maoke) of Prov. of Papua (= Irian Jaya) to Mt Saint Mary in
Central Province
of
Papua New Guinea
;
2000-4050 m
; Flannery (1995
a
) and Musser and Lunde (ms). Apparently absent from the Owen Stanley Range in E
Papua New Guinea
.
Conservation:
IUCN
– Lower Risk (lc).
Discussion:
The species
ruemmleri
was originally described as a
Pogonomelomys
(
Tate and Archbold, 1941
)
, but because its morphology is so different from other species in that genus
Tate (1951)
placed
ruemmleri
in a group within
Pogonomelomys
separate from
mayeri
and
bruijnii
, the species considered typical of the genus. The distinctiveness of
ruemmleri
was reinforced by Lidicker's (1968) study of phallic morphology; others have noted that it was not part of the same monophyletic group containing the other species of
Pogonomelomys
(for example,
Flannery, 1990
b
). Finally,
Menzies (1990)
made
ruemmleri
the type species of
Coccymys
. Before the reports of Lidicker, Flannery, and Menzies, the unique character of
ruemmleri
had been ascertained by Jack Mahoney, who died before he could finish his revision of the group. The form
shawmayeri
was described by
Hinton (1943)
, who considered it a remarkable species of
Rattus
unlike any of the New
Guinea
species and possibly closely related to
Nepal
and Sikkim endemics. An undescribed species of
Coccymys
occurs in the Owen Stanley Range (Musser and Lunde, in ms.).