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
Solomys
Thomas 1922
Solomys
Thomas 1922
,
Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, 9: 261
.
Type Species:
Uromys sapientis
Thomas 1902
Synonyms:
Unicomys
Troughton 1935
.
Species and subspecies:
5 species:
Species
Solomys ponceleti
Troughton 1935
Species
Solomys salamonis
(Ramsay 1883)
Species
Solomys salebrosus
Troughton 1936
Species
Solomys sapientis
(Thomas 1902)
Species
Solomys spriggsarum
Flannery and Wickler 1990
Discussion:
Uromys
Division. Member of the New
Guinea
region Old Endemics (
Musser, 1981
c
). Included in
Melomys
by
Ellerman (1941:226)
, then transferred to
Uromys
by
Tate (1951:312)
, but finally recognized again as a distinct genus (
Flannery and Wickler, 1990
;
Laurie and Hill, 1954:128
). Traditionally allied with
Uromys
and
Melomys
(
Menzies, 1990
;
Misonne, 1969
;
Simpson, 1961
;
Tate, 1951
), and analysis of albumin immunology linked
Solomys
"closely with a group of
Melomys
species
represented by
M. cervinipes
" (
Watts and Baverstock, 1994
a
:301
)
. Sperm head morphology, however, is unusual among murines and unlike that characteristic of species in
Uromys
and
Melomys
(
Breed, 1997
;
Breed and Aplin, 1994
). Membership of
Solomys
in the
Uromys
cluster should be tested by phylogenetic analyses of morphological and molecular data.
Species of
Solomys
are arboreal and endemic to the Solomon Isls. There are no specimens, either living or fossil, from Malaita and
San Cristobal
Isls in the S Solomons, but stories told by local people to Flannery suggest that
Solomys
once also occurred on both (Flannery, 1995
b
). This is also probably the large rat discussed by Kwa’ioloa and Burt (2001)
.