Nesomys Peters 1870

Nesomys Peters 1870, Sitzb. Ges. Naturf. Fr. Berlin: 54.

Type Species: Nesomys rufus Peters 1870

Synonyms: Hallomys Jentink 1879 .

Species and subspecies: 3 species:

Species Nesomys audeberti Jentink 1879

Species Nesomys lambertoni G. Grandidier 1928

Species Nesomys rufus Peters 1870

Discussion: Major (1897) synonymized Jentink’s (1879 a) Hallomys (type species = H. audeberti) under Nesomys and allocated the genus to the Cricetinae, as did Ellerman (1941). Sister genus of Brachyuromys according to phylogenetic interpretation of mitochondrial DNA sequences (Jansa et al., 1999). Ellerman (1941, 1949) accepted audeberti and lambertoni as species as described, but F. Petter (1972 c, 1975 a) arranged them as subspecies of N. rufus, synonymies observed in systematic checklists (Corbet and Hill, 1991; Honacki et al., 1982; Musser and Carleton, 1993). Carleton and Schmidt (1990) indicated that each is morphologically highly distinctive, and Ryan et al. (1993) encountered N. audeberti and N. rufus in sympatry. Distributions, ecology, and behavior reviewed by Ryan (2003).