Melomys limicauda Troughton, 1935b Melomys littoralis insulae Troughton & Le Souef, 1929b

Parnaby, Harry E., Ingleby, Sandy & Divljan, Anja, 2017, Type Specimens of Non-fossil Mammals in the Australian Museum, Sydney, Records of the Australian Museum 69 (5), pp. 277-420 : 360

Melomys limicauda Troughton, 1935b

Rec. Aust. Mus. 19(4): 255, fig. 2a. (19 September 1935).

Common name. Fawn-footed Melomys.

Current name. Melomys cervinipes ( Gould, 1852) , following Jackson & Groves (2015).

Holotype. M.5928 by original designation.Adult male, skull, study skin, collected in January 1935, by Mr F. A. McNeill; registered 21 January 1935.

Condition. Damaged cranium, right side of braincase, zygoma and posterior half of right orbit are crushed, otherwise complete; right dentary missing angular process. Study skin: large patch of skin and fur missing on right side of dorsum posterior to ear.

Type locality. Hayman Island, Whitsunday Group, Qld, Australia.

Comments. Description based on an adult male specimen. Troughton mentioned a young female received from Hans Kroyer but did not cite the registration number. The specimen appears to be M.5953, (body in alc.), from Hayman Island, registered on 8 April 1935. He also mentions an adult specimen to be forwarded by Kroyer, which is presumably included in the six specimens from the type locality (M.6049–54) from Kroyer registered in December 1935 and identified in Troughton’s hand as M. limicauda . We regard M.5953 to be a referred specimen, rather than a paratype because it is implicitly excluded from the species description. Melomys littoralis insulae Troughton & Le Souef, 1929b