Melomys

Melomys is a genus of rodents in the family Muridae. Members of this genus live in the wet habitats of northern Australia (Far North Queensland), New Guinea, Torres Strait Islands and islands of the Indonesian archipelago.^[2][3]

Melomys Temporal range: Pleistocene to recent
Melomys cervinipes
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Muridae
Tribe:	Hydromyini
Genus:	Melomys Thomas, 1922
Type species
Uromys rufescens[1]
Species
See text

Species

The genus contains the following species:

• Dusky mosaic-tailed rat (Melomys aerosus)
• Rossel Island mosaic-tailed rat (Melomys arcium)
• Bannister's rat (Melomys bannisteri)
• Bougainville mosaic-tailed rat (Melomys bougainville)
• Grassland mosaic-tailed rat (Melomys burtoni)
• Cape York mosaic-tailed rat (Melomys capensis)
• Short-tailed Talaud mosaic-tailed rat (Melomys caurinus)
• Fawn-footed mosaic-tailed rat (Melomys cervinipes)
• Yamdena mosaic-tailed rat (Melomys cooperae)
• Dollman's mosaic-tailed rat (Melomys dollmani)
• Manusela mosaic-tailed rat (Melomys fraterculus)
• Snow Mountains grassland mosaic-tailed rat (Melomys frigicola)
• Seram long-tailed mosaic-tailed rat (Melomys fulgens)
• Riama mosaic-tailed rat (Melomys howi)
• White-bellied mosaic-tailed rat (Melomys leucogaster)
• Papua grassland mosaic-tailed rat (Melomys lutillus)
• Manus Island mosaic-tailed rat (Melomys matambuai)
• Obi mosaic-tailed rat (Melomys obiensis)
• Pavel's Seram mosaic-tailed rat (Melomys paveli)
• †Bramble Cay mosaic-tailed rat (Melomys rubicola) – considered the only mammal endemic to the Great Barrier Reef and represents the first documented mammal extinction (2016, confirmed 2019) due to climate change^[4][5]
• Black-tailed mosaic-tailed rat (Melomys rufescens)
• Buka Island mosaic-tailed rat (Melomys spechti)
• Long-tailed Talaud mosaic-tailed rat (Melomys talaudium)

References

1. Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M., eds. (2005). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
2. Breed, Bill; Ford, Fred (2007). Native Mice and Rats. CSIRO Publishing. pp. 31–32. ISBN 978-0-643-09166-5.
3. "A new species of Melomys (Rodentia, Muridae) From Yamdena Island, Tanimbar Group, Eastern Indonesia". Western Australian Museum. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
4. "Barrier Reef rodent is first mammal declared extinct due to climate change". University of Queensland. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
5. Purtill, James (20 February 2019). "An Australian rodent has become the first climate change mammal extinction". Triple J Hack. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 21 February 2019.