Maxomys Sody, 1936 . Natuurk. Tidjschr. Ned.-Ind., 96:55.

TYPE SPECIES: Mus bartelsii Jentink, 1910 .

COMMENTS: Definition and contents of Maxomys provided by Musser et al. (1979), who discussed historical allocations of species to groups of Rattus, and summarized chromosomal information. The exclusion of Maxomys from Rattus was also supported by biochemical data (Chan et al., 1979). Morphological analyses indicated that Maxomys shares all its derived molar traits with Berylmys, Mus, and Niviventer, and some of its external features with Mus (Musser and Newcomb, 1983). Hypothetical phylogenetic estimate of relationships based on karyotypic data placed Maxomys close to Niviventer and Lenothrix and far from Rattus (Gadi and Sharma, 1983). Spermatozoal morphology of Malayan Maxomys and one Sulawesian species was similar to Chiropodomys and Hapalomys, a configuration also like that seen in Mus and Apodemus (Breed and Musser, 1991; Breed and Yong, 1986). Sperm conformation in the other species of Sulawesian Maxomys were unlike the Malayan species and resembled that of the Sulawesian endemic Margaretamys (Breed and Musser, 1991).