Hydromys chrysogaster E. Geoffroy, 1804

Guy G. Musser & Michael D. Carleton, 1993, Order Rodentia - Family Muridae, Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition), Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 501-755 : 597

Hydromys chrysogaster E. Geoffroy, 1804 . Bull. Sci. Soc. Philom. Paris, 93:354.

TYPE LOCALITY: Australia, Tasmania, Bruny Isl (see Mahoney and Richardson, 1988:157) .

DISTRIBUTION: Australia: freshwater lakes and rivers as well as swamp, salt marsh, and supralittoral habitats (absent from central Australian region); also found on Tasmania and numerous smaller islands off the coast of Austalia ( Friend and Thomas, 1990; Watts and Aslin, 1981:67); Kei Isis and Aru Isis; New Guinea: throughout most of the island from sea level to 1900 m (see map in Flannery, 1990b:188). Also on Obi Isl in the Moluccas (Flannery, in litt.).

SYNONYMS: beccarii , caurinus , esox , fuliginosus , fulvogaster , fulvolavatus , fulvoventer , grootensis , illuteus , lawnensis , leucogaster , longmani , lutrilla, melicertes , moae , nauticus , oriens , reginae.

COMMENTS: Considered an Australian member of Hydromyini ( Baverstock, 1984). Chromosomal data presented by Baverstock et al. (1977 c, 1983b). Biochemical evidence supports weak link between H. chrysogaster and Xeromys ( Baverstock et al., 1981) . Morphology of spermatozoa and male reproductive tract discussed in context of comparative study of Australian murines ( Breed, 1984, 1986; Breed and Sarafis, 1978; Morrissey and Breed, 1982). References to distributional, taxonomic and biological literature cataloged by Mahoney and Richardson (1988:156). Significance of variation in body size and pelage color needs to be assessed in context of critical systematic revision of the species.