Paramelomys naso (Thomas 1911)

[Paramelomys] naso (Thomas 1911), Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, 7: 386.

Type Locality: New Guinea; SW Prov. of Papua (= Irian Jaya), foothills of Nassau Range, Whitewater Camp on the Kafari (=Kaparé) River (see Laurie and Hill, 1954:121).

Vernacular Names: Long-nosed Paramelomys.

Distribution: New Guinea; lowlands of SW Prov. of Papua (= Irian Jaya) and Weyland Range, limits unknown on mainland; also on Wokam Isl in the Aru Isl Group (Menzies, 1995; Flannery, 1995 b, identified the specimen from Wokam as P. lorentzii).

Discussion: Treated as a synonym of Melomys levipes lorentzii by Rümmler (1938) and as a subspecies of M. levipes by Tate (1951) and Laurie and Hill (1954). Musser and Carleton (1993) incorrectly included naso in P. lorentzii but the two are sympatric (Menzies, 1996). Morphologically and probably phylogenetically most closely related to P. levipes in the lowlands of SE Papua New Guinea. An adult from the Weyland Range (AMNH 101957) collected at 5000 ft (1524 m), much higher than any other record, has all the characteristics of P. naso (including one hair per tail scale); it was collected along with examples of montane P. mollis and P. rubex .