Paramelomys platyops (Thomas 1906)

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Rodentia - Family Muridae, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 2, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 1189-1531 : 1434

Paramelomys platyops (Thomas 1906)

[Paramelomys] platyops (Thomas 1906) , Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, 17: 327.

Type Locality: SE Papua New Guinea, Central Province, head of Aroa River.

Vernacular Names: Common Lowland Paramelomys.

Synonyms: Paramelomys fuscus (Rümmler 1935) ; Paramelomys intermedius (Rümmler 1935) ; Paramelomys jobiensis (Rümmler 1935) ; Paramelomys mamberanus (Sody 1937) .

Distribution: New Guinea, throughout lowlands and mid-mountain altitudes on the mainland except seasonally dry savanna forests of the southern lowlands; altitudinal range from sea level to 1500 m. Also occurs on islands of Yapen and Biak in Prov. of Papua (= Irian Jaya); New Britain in the Bismarck Arch.; and the islands of Normanby, Fergusson, and Goodenough in the D'Entrecasteaux Arch. (Flannery, 1995 a; Menzies, 1996; specimens in AMNH).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc) as Melomys platyops .

Discussion: This species was thought to range primarily throughout N New Guinea (see map in Flannery, 1990 b:224) but our reidentification of museum specimens and holotypes, along with Menzies’s revision (1996) reveals otherwise. The form intermedius was originally described as a subspecies of Melomys moncktoni (see Rümmler, 1938), but members of type series from Utakwa River (type locality) in SW Prov. of Papua (= Irian Jaya) have only one hair per scale (all P. moncktoni have three hairs per scale), as does P. platyops , and their cranial, dental, and other external traits are also characteristic of P. platyops , not P. moncktoni . Geographic variation in body size exists among samples of P. platyops , especially lowland versus highland samples ( Menzies, 1996, and our observations) and mainland versus island populations (Flannery, 1995 b), and a careful systematic revision of the species is required to assess its significance. Leary and Seri (1997) reported specimens and habitat information in the Kikori River Basin of S Papua New Guinea.