Solomys Thomas 1922

Solomys Thomas 1922, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, 9: 261.

Type Species: Uromys sapientis Thomas 1902

Synonyms: Unicomys Troughton 1935 .

Species and subspecies: 5 species:

Species Solomys ponceleti Troughton 1935

Species Solomys salamonis (Ramsay 1883)

Species Solomys salebrosus Troughton 1936

Species Solomys sapientis (Thomas 1902)

Species Solomys spriggsarum Flannery and Wickler 1990

Discussion: Uromys Division. Member of the New Guinea region Old Endemics (Musser, 1981 c). Included in Melomys by Ellerman (1941:226), then transferred to Uromys by Tate (1951:312), but finally recognized again as a distinct genus (Flannery and Wickler, 1990; Laurie and Hill, 1954:128). Traditionally allied with Uromys and Melomys (Menzies, 1990; Misonne, 1969; Simpson, 1961; Tate, 1951), and analysis of albumin immunology linked Solomys "closely with a group of Melomys species represented by M. cervinipes " (Watts and Baverstock, 1994 a:301) . Sperm head morphology, however, is unusual among murines and unlike that characteristic of species in Uromys and Melomys (Breed, 1997; Breed and Aplin, 1994). Membership of Solomys in the Uromys cluster should be tested by phylogenetic analyses of morphological and molecular data.

Species of Solomys are arboreal and endemic to the Solomon Isls. There are no specimens, either living or fossil, from Malaita and San Cristobal Isls in the S Solomons, but stories told by local people to Flannery suggest that Solomys once also occurred on both (Flannery, 1995 b). This is also probably the large rat discussed by Kwa’ioloa and Burt (2001).