Melomys talaudium (Thomas 1921)

[Melomys] talaudium (Thomas 1921), Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, 7: 248.

Type Locality: Indonesia, Kepulauan Talaud, Pulau Salebabu, Lirung.

Vernacular Names: Long-tailed Talaud Melomys.

Distribution: Recorded only from the islands of Karakelang and Salebabu in the Talaud Isls (specimens in BMNH and MZB; Helgen, 2003 b).

Discussion: Morphologically similar to M. leucogaster (Menzies, 1996; our own study of the specimens discussed by Flannery, 1995 b). Originally described as a species, but Rümmler (1938) and Ellerman (1941) treated talaudium as a subspecies of M. leucogaster, Musser and Carleton (1993) listed it in the synonymy of that species, and Laurie and Hill (1954) arranged it as a subspecies of M. fulgens . Tate (1951) recognized talaudium as a distinct species as have Flannery (1995 b) and Menzies (1996). It is sympatric with M. caurinus, which has a shorter tail relative to head and body length, suggesting that M. caurinus may be terrestrial and M. talaudium arboreal (Flannery, 1995 b; Thomas, 1921 i). Except for tail length these two species are hardly distinguishable in cranial and dental features and to Flannery (1995 b:132) "there seems little doubt that these two species have evolved in the Talaud islands from a common ancestor.".