Hydromys E. Geoffroy 1804

Hydromys E. Geoffroy 1804, Bull. Sci. Soc. Philom. Paris, 3 (93): 353.

Type Species: Hydromys chrysogaster E. Geoffroy 1804

Synonyms: Baiyankamys Hinton 1943 .

Species and subspecies: 5 species:

Species Hydromys chrysogaster E. Geoffroy 1804

Species Hydromys habbema Tate and Archbold 1941

Species Hydromys hussoni Musser and Piik 1982

Species Hydromys neobritannicus Tate and Archbold 1935

Species Hydromys shawmayeri Hinton 1943

Discussion: Hydromys Division. Member of the Australian and New Guinea Old Endemics (Musser, 1981 c). Considered an Australian member of a restricted Hydromyini by Baverstock (1984), not the more inclusive Hydromyini of Watts and Baverstock (1994 a). Analysis of allozymic variation supported a weak link between H. chrysogaster and Xeromys (Baverstock et al., 1981), but albumin immunology (Watts and Baverstock, 1994 a, 1996) and spermatozoal morphology (Breed and Aplin, 1994; Breed, 1997), using H. chrysogaster, strongly allied Hydromys with New Guinea Parahydromys, and the Australian Leggadina, and placed the three in a larger clade containing members of our Xeromys, Pseudomys, and Uromys Divisions, which Watts and Baverstock (1994 a) defined as the Hydromyini (or "Australasian clade") to the exclusion of strictly New Guinea species in our Pogonomys Division (Anisomyini of Watts and Baverstock, 1994 a) and Lorentzimys Division. However, analyses of multiple mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences indicate Leggadina to be closer to a Pseudomys / Notomys clade than to Hydromys (F. Ford, in litt., 2004; see Leggadina account). Comparisons with Neotropical ichthyomyines made by Voss (1988). Flannery (1990 b, 1995 a) provided photographs and distributional and biological summaries of species. Phallic morphology of H. chrysogaster and H. habbema described by Lidicker (1968). Mahoney (1968) explained why Baiyankamys is a synonym of Hydromys .