Melomys fraterculus Thomas, 1920:428
Manusela mosaic-tailed rat, Manusela melomys
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Uromys fraterculus Thomas, 1920:428; Pogonomelomys fraterculus Thomas, 1920:428
Conservation Status
Extinct
Last record: January 1920 (Flannery, 1995:133)
IUCN RedList status: Critically Endangered
Distribution
Seram island (=Ceram), Indonesia
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Only known from the holotype, an adult male according to (Flannery, 1995:133), but known from the type series of two specimens according to (Helgen, 2003). Roycroft et al. (2022) report two accessions in two different museums:
MZB35961
NHMUK ZD.1920.7.26.27
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Thomas, Oldfield. (1920). On small mammals from Ceram. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, ser. 9, 6: 422-431.
Other references:
Flannery, T. F. 1995. Mammals of the South-west Pacific and Moluccan Islands. Comstock/Cornell, Ithaca, NY, 464 pp. [p. 133]
Freudenthal, M. and Martín-Suárez, E. (2013). Estimating body mass of fossil rodents. Scripta Geologica 145: 1-130. [0.048 kg min. mass estimate]
Helgen, K. M. (2003). A review of the rodent fauna of Seram, Moluccas, with the description of a new subspecies of mosaic-tailed rat, Melomys rufescens paveli. Journal of Zoology (London) 261: 165-172.
Helgen, K. and Aplin, K. (2008). Melomys fraterculus. In: IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.1. (http://www.iucnredlist.org). Downloaded on 28 July 2013.
Laurie, E. M. O., and J. E. Hill. 1954. List of land mammals of New Guinea, Celebes and adjacent islands 1758-1952. British Museum (Natural History) Publications, London, 175 pp.
Martin, Thomas E., Bennett, Gareth C., Fairbairn, Andrew J. and Mooers, A. Ø. (2023). ‘Lost’ taxa and their conservation implications. Animal Conservation 26(1): 14-24. https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.12788 [Appendix S2 (1617 taxa not seen >10 years); Appendix S3 (562 taxa not seen >50 years)]
Menzies, J. I. 1991. A systematic revision of Pogonomelomys (Rodentia: Muridae) of New Guinea. Science in New Guinea 16: 118-137.
Roycroft, Emily et al. (2022). New Guinea uplift opens ecological opportunity across a continent. Current Biology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.08.021
Rümmler, H. (1938). Die Systematik und Verbreitung der Muriden Neuguineas. Mitteilungen aus dem Zoologische Museum 23: 1-297.
Silva, M. B. and Downing, J. A. (1995). CRC handbook of mammalian body masses. CRC Press: 1-359.
Tate, G. H. H. 1951. Results of the Archbold Expeditions. No. 65. The rodents of Australia and New
Guinea. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 97:183-430.