Leptomys Thomas, 1897

Guy G. Musser & Michael D. Carleton, 1993, Order Rodentia - Family Muridae, Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition), Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 501-755 : 604

Leptomys Thomas, 1897 . Ann. Mus. Civ. Stor. Nat. Genova, 18:610.

TYPE SPECIES: Leptomys elegans Thomas, 1897 .

COMMENTS: Member of the New Guinea Old Endemics ( Musser, 1981c). Most lists and faunal studies published since 1951 recognized only one species in Leptomys ( Flannery, 1990b; Laurie and Hill, 1954; Menzies and Dennis, 1979; Tate, 1951), but Rummler's (1938) revision in which he identified two species ( elegans and ernstmayri ), and Tate and Archbold's (1938) description of a third ( signatus ) accurately reflects the known diversity. A derived cephalic arterial pattern, along with other morphological features, is shared by Leptomys, Mayrmys , Neohydromys , Pseudohydromys , and Lorentzimys ( Musser and Heaney, 1992). Certain phallic traits ( Lidicker and Brylski, 1987), also united Leptomys and Lorentzimys. Chromosomal data were provided by Donnellan (1987), but whether the sampled species was L. elegans or L. ernstmayri is unclear.