Solomys salamonis (Ramsay, 1882:43)
Ugi giant rat, Ugi naked-tailed rat, Florida giant rat, Florida naked-tailed rat, Florida rat
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Mus salamonis Ramsay, 1882:43 (original combination); Uromys salamonis (Ramsay, 1882:43)
The species was redescribed by Troughton (1936).
Conservation Status
Missing (Lavery, 2013)
Last (and only) record: 1881 (Lavery, 2013; Martin et al., 2023)
IUCN RedList status: Data Deficient
Distribution & Habitat
Ugi Island [not Florida Island], Solomon Islands
See Lavery (2013) for a discussion of the species' type locality.
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Only known from the holotype. Only the skull seems to remain, the body having seemingly been lost (Troughton, 1936).
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Ramsay, E. P. (1883a). On a new species of Mus from the Island of Ugi, Solomon Group. The Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 7(1): 43-44.
Other references:
Flannery, Timothy F. (1995). Mammals of the South-West Pacific and Moluccan Islands. Comstock/Cornell, Ithaca, Ny, USA. [p. 165]
Flannery, Timothy F. and Wickler, S. (1990). Quaternary murids (Rodentia: Muridae) from Buka Island, Papua New Guinea, with descriptions of two new species. Australian Mammalogy 13: 127-139.
Helgen, K., Leary, T. and Wright, D. (2016). Solomys salamonis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T20334A22430021. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T20334A22430021.en. Accessed on 02 June 2026.
Lavery, Tyrone. (2013). A re-assessment of the type locality of the giant rat Solomys salamonis (Rodentia: Muridae) from the Solomon Islands. Australian Mammalogy 36(1): 99-102. https://dx.doi.org/10.1071/AM13019
Leary, T., Seri, L., Flannery, T., Wright, D., Hamilton, S., Helgen, K., Singadan, R., Menzies, J., Allison, A., James, R. and Bonaccorso, F. (2008a). Solomys salamonis. In: IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.1. (http://www.iucnredlist.org). Downloaded on 30 July 2013.
Leary, T., Seri, L., Flannery, T., Wright, D., Hamilton, S., Helgen, K., Singadan, R., Menzies, J., Allison, A., James, R. and Bonaccorso, F. (2008b). Solomys salamonis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2008: e.T20334A9187259. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T20334A9187259.en. Accessed on 02 June 2026.
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)]
MacPhee, R. D. E. and Flemming, C. (1999). Requiem Aeternam. The last five hundred years of mammalian species extinctions, pp. 333-371. In: MacPhee, R. D. E. (ed.). Extinctions in Near Time. New York: Kluwer Academic / Plenum Publisher.
Parnaby, Harry, Ingleby, Sandy and Divljan, Anja. (2017). Type specimens of non-fossil mammals in the Australian Museum, Sydney. Records of the Australian Museum 69(5): 277-420. https://doi.org/10.3853/j.2201-4349.69.2017.1653
Ramsay, E. P. (1883b). Contributions to the zoology of New Guinea, Part 7. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of N.S.W. 8: 15-29. [relevnt citation? erratum which changes type locality]
Rümmler, H. (1938). Die Systematik und Verbreitung der Muriden Neuguineas. Mitteilungen aus dem Zoologische Museum in Berlin, 23:1-297.
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.
Thomas, Оldfield. (1888). The mammals of the Solomon Islands, based upon the collections made by Mr C.M. Woodford during his second expedition to the archipelago. Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1888: 470-484 [481].
Troughton, E. L. G. (1936). A redescription of Solomys ("Mus") salamonis Ramsay. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 61: 3-4.
https://extinctanimals.proboards.com/thread/7011/solomys-salamonis-florida-tailed-rat