Notomys Lesson 1842

Notomys Lesson 1842, Nouv. Tabl. Regn. Anim. Mammiferes: 129.

Type Species: Dipus mitchellii Ogilby 1838

Synonyms: Ascopharynx Waite 1900; Podanomalus Waite 1898; Thylacomys Waite 1898 .

Species and subspecies: 9 species:

Species Notomys alexis Thomas 1922

Species Notomys amplus Brazenor 1936

Species Notomys aquilo Thomas 1921

Species Notomys cervinus Gould 1851

Species Notomys fuscus Jones 1925

Species Notomys longicaudatus Gould 1844

Species Notomys macrotis Thomas 1921

Species Notomys mitchellii (Ogilby 1838)

Species Notomys mordax Thomas 1922

Discussion: Pseudomys Division. Member of the Australian Old Endemics (Musser, 1981 c), which includes the Conilurini in which Baverstock (1984) placed Notomys . Gross and microscopical anatomy of neck glands described by Watts (1975); morphological variation in female reproductive tract documented by Breed (1985); morphology of male reproductive tract, glans penis, and spermatozoa described by Breed (1980, 1984, 1986), Breed and Sarafis (1978), and Morrissey and Breed (1982); results of electrophoretic studies presented by Baverstock et al. (1977 b, 1981); chromosomal evolution and G-banding homologies addressed by Baverstock et al. (1977 c, e, 1983 b). Mahoney and Richardson (1988) cataloged references to taxonomy, distribution, and biology of the species.

Members of Notomys form a monophyletic group diagnosed by a suite of distinctive morphological and genic traits; closest phylogenetic relatives are species of Pseudomys (see Lidicker and Brylski, 1987, and references therein; Watts et al., 1992); that genus, Notomys, and other Australian Old Endemics have been assembled in an expanded Hydromyini, which contains both Australian and some New Guinea genera and is supported by albumin immunology and spermatozoal morphology (Watts and Baverstock, 1995 b, 1996).

There is an undescribed species of large-bodied Notomys (Great Hopping Mouse) known from Recent and complete remains collected in the Flinders Ranges and Davenport Range of South Australia; it may have become extinct in the Flinders Ranges between 1850 and 1900 (Flannery, 1995 d; Robinson et al., 2000; Watts and Aslin, 1981). K. Aplin (in litt., 2004) noted that many of the historically recorded species of Notomys declined so quickly that they are currently known from only a few museum specimens, often in poor condition and from widely scattered localities. Aplin views the current taxonomy of Notomys to seriously underestimate the real historic diversity, and states that the true diversity will only be revealed by a combination of 1) systematic survey of subfossil assemblages, 2) comprehensive DNA sampling of historical specimens, and 3) selective DNA sampling of subfossils to link the two.