''Melanomys'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and Mandible, lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal specie ...

in the tribe

Oryzomyini Oryzomyini is a tribe of rodents in the subfamily Sigmodontinae of the family Cricetidae. It includes about 120 species in about thirty genera,Weksler et al., 2006, table 1 distributed from the eastern United States to the southernmost parts of S ...

of family

Cricetidae The Cricetidae are a family of rodents in the large and complex superfamily Muroidea. It includes true hamsters, voles, lemmings, muskrats, and New World rats and mice. At over 870 species, it is either the largest or second-largest family ...

, which is distributed in northern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

and adjacent

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

. It contains three species, two of which—''

Melanomys robustulus ''Melanomys robustulus'', also known as the robust melanomysMusser and Carleton, 2005 or robust dark rice rat, is a species of rodent in the genus '' Melanomys'' of family Cricetidae. It is found on the eastern slope of the Andes in Ecuador ...

'' and ''

Melanomys zunigae ''Melanomys zunigae'', also known as Zuniga's melanomysMusser and Carleton, 2005 or Zuniga's dark rice rat, is a species of rodent in the genus '' Melanomys'' of family Cricetidae. Known only from a small region of coastal Peru, it is listed as "c ...

''—have limited distributions. The third, ''

Melanomys caliginosus ''Melanomys caliginosus'', also known as the dusky melanomysMusser and Carleton, 2005 or dusky rice rat, is a species of rodent in the genus '' Melanomys'' of family Cricetidae. It is found from Central America, in Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica ...

'', is more widely distributed, but may be a species complex.

References

Rodent genera Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Sigmodontinae-stub