Mesembriomys Palmer 1906

Mesembriomys Palmer 1906, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., 19: 97.

Type Species: Mus hirsutus Gould 1842

Synonyms: Ammomys Thomas 1906 .

Species and subspecies: 2 species:

Species Mesembriomys gouldii (Gray 1843)

Species Mesembriomys macrurus (Peters 1876)

Discussion: Pseudomys Division. Member of the Australian Old Endemics (Musser, 1981 c:167), which includes the Conilurini where Baverstock (1984) placed Mesembriomys, and closely related to Leporillus and Conilurus (Watts et al., 1992) . Analyses of immunological distances (Watts and Baverstock, 1994 b, 1996) and sperm morphology (Breed and Aplin, 1994; Breed, 1997) support the inclusion of Mesembriomys in large clade that includes members of our Hydromys, Xeromys, Pseudomys, and Uromys Divisions from Australia and New Guinea (the "Australasian clade" of Watts and Baverstock, 1995 b, 1996), but not our strictly New Guinea Pogonomys Division or Lorentzimys Division. Mahoney and Richardson (1988:164) cataloged taxonomic, distributional, and biological references.