Anonymomys Musser 1981

Anonymomys Musser 1981, Bull. Am. Mus . Nat. Hist., 168: 300.

Type Species: Anonymomys mindorensis Musser 1981

Species and subspecies: 1 species:

Species Anonymomys mindorensis Musser 1981

Discussion: Dacnomys Division. Contrasted with Indomalayan and Sulawesian murines by Musser (1981 c) and Musser and Newcomb (1983). Morphology and distribution reviewed and compared with other Philippine murines by Musser and Heaney (1992). Except that Anonymomys has no close phylogenetic links to any of the Philippine Old Endemics or New Endemics in the Rattus Division (Musser and Heaney, 1992), its affinities are unresolved. Of the two published speculations, a tie to Bornean and Sulawesi Haeromys (Musser and Newcomb, 1983) or primitive relative of Indomalayan Niviventer and its phylogenetic allies (Musser, 1981 b), the latter is a better estimate based upon interpretation of available morphological data: " Anonymomys may be distantly related to Niviventer and its relatives, perhaps a species with many primitive characters that is part, possibly a remnant, of an early stock from which Niviventer, Chiromyscus, Leopoldamys, ... and Dacnomys evolved" (Musser, 1981 b). We provionally include Anonymomys in the Dacnomys Division until additional information, including chromosomes and analyses of gene sequences, is marshalled to test the suggested alternative alliances. Within the context of phylogenetic relationships among endemic Philippine murines, Anonymomys is an Indosundaic element on Mindoro Isl and shares this distinction with an undescribed species of Maxomys (specimens examined by Musser), and Rattus mindorensis . The other indigenous Mindoran murines are species of Apomys and Chrotomys, which are strictly Philippine in geographic and phylogenetic origin, and also members of the Philippine Old Endemic assemblage.