Paramelomys naso (Thomas 1911)

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Rodentia - Family Muridae, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 2, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 1189-1531 : 1434

Paramelomys naso (Thomas 1911)

[Paramelomys] naso (Thomas 1911) , Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, 7: 386.

Type Locality: New Guinea; SW Prov. of Papua (= Irian Jaya), foothills of Nassau Range, Whitewater Camp on the Kafari (=Kaparé) River (see Laurie and Hill, 1954:121).

Vernacular Names: Long-nosed Paramelomys.

Distribution: New Guinea; lowlands of SW Prov. of Papua (= Irian Jaya) and Weyland Range, limits unknown on mainland; also on Wokam Isl in the Aru Isl Group (Menzies, 1995; Flannery, 1995 b, identified the specimen from Wokam as P. lorentzii ).

Discussion: Treated as a synonym of Melomys levipes lorentzii by Rümmler (1938) and as a subspecies of M. levipes by Tate (1951) and Laurie and Hill (1954). Musser and Carleton (1993) incorrectly included naso in P. lorentzii but the two are sympatric ( Menzies, 1996). Morphologically and probably phylogenetically most closely related to P. levipes in the lowlands of SE Papua New Guinea. An adult from the Weyland Range ( AMNH 101957) collected at 5000 ft (1524 m), much higher than any other record, has all the characteristics of P. naso (including one hair per tail scale); it was collected along with examples of montane P. mollis and P. rubex .