''Melomys'' 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 ...

s in the family

Muridae The Muridae, or murids, are either the largest or second-largest family of rodents and of mammals, containing approximately 870 species, including many species of mice, rats, and gerbils found naturally throughout Eurasia, Africa, and Australia. ...

. Members of this genus live in the wet habitats of northern Australia (

Far North Queensland Far North Queensland (FNQ) is the northernmost part of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland. Its largest city is Cairns, Queensland, Cairns and it is dominated geographically by Cape York Peninsula, which stret ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

Torres Strait Islands The Torres Strait Islands are an archipelago of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait, a waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea. They span an area of , but their tot ...

and islands of the Indonesian archipelago.

Species

The genus contains the following species: * Dusky mosaic-tailed rat (''Melomys aerosus'') *

Rossel Island mosaic-tailed rat The Rossel Island melomys (''Melomys arcium'') is a species of rodent from the family Muridae. It is endemic to Rossel Island in Papua New Guinea, but Flannery (1955) presumed that "it did exist previously on other islands of the group, but has b ...

(''Melomys arcium'') * Bannister's rat (''Melomys bannisteri'') *

Bougainville mosaic-tailed rat The Bougainville mosaic-tailed rat (''Melomys bougainville'') is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found only in Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country i ...

(''Melomys bougainville'') *

Grassland mosaic-tailed rat The grassland mosaic-tailed rat, or grassland melomys (''Melomys burtoni''), is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found in Australia and Papua New Guinea. In Australia it is found along the northern coast from Kimberley to New Sou ...

(''Melomys burtoni'') * Cape York mosaic-tailed rat (''Melomys capensis'') *

Short-tailed Talaud mosaic-tailed rat The short-tailed Talaud mosaic-tailed rat or the short-tailed Talaud melomys (''Melomys caurinus'') is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is endemic to Karakelong and Salebabu in the Talaud Islands in Indonesia where it occurs in fo ...

(''Melomys caurinus'') * Fawn-footed mosaic-tailed rat (''Melomys cervinipes'') *

Yamdena mosaic-tailed rat Yamdena (spelled Jamdena during the Dutch colonial period) is the largest of the Tanimbar Islands in the Maluku province of Indonesia. Saumlaki is the chief town, located on the south end of the island. The island has a range of forested hill ...

(''Melomys cooperae'') *

Dollman's mosaic-tailed rat Dollman's melomys (''Melomys dollmani'') is a species of rodent from the family Muridae. It lives in the eastern highlands of Papua New Guinea at an elevation of at least and on the slopes of Mount Hagen and Mount Sisa. However, it is not found ...

(''Melomys dollmani'') * Manusela mosaic-tailed rat (''Melomys fraterculus'') * Snow Mountains grassland mosaic-tailed rat (''Melomys frigicola'') * Seram long-tailed mosaic-tailed rat (''Melomys fulgens'') *

Riama mosaic-tailed rat ''Riama'' is a genus of lizards in the Family (biology), family Gymnophthalmidae. The genus is Endemism, endemic to South America. Species The genus ''Riama'' contains 16 species which are recognized as being valid. www.reptile-database.org. *'' ...

(''Melomys howi'') *

White-bellied mosaic-tailed rat The white-bellied mosaic-tailed rat (''Melomys leucogaster'') is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found in West Papua, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, i ...

(''Melomys leucogaster'') * Papua grassland mosaic-tailed rat (''Melomys lutillus'') *

Manus Island mosaic-tailed rat The Manus Island mosaic-tailed rat or Manus melomys (''Melomys matambuai'') is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is endemic to the island of Manus in Papua New Guinea where it occurs in forest habitats and is largely arboreal. The In ...

(''Melomys matambuai'') *

Obi mosaic-tailed rat The Obi mosaic-tailed rat (''Melomys obiensis'') is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found only in Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian O ...

(''Melomys obiensis'') * Pavel's Seram mosaic-tailed rat (''Melomys paveli'') * † Bramble Cay mosaic-tailed rat (''Melomys rubicola'') – considered the only mammal endemic to the

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

and represents the first documented mammal extinction (2016, confirmed 2019) due to climate change *

Black-tailed mosaic-tailed rat The black-tailed mosaic-tailed rat or black-tailed melomys (''Melomys rufescens'') is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found through much of New Guinea and also on some nearby islands, namely Salawati and Misool (Indonesia), and ...

(''Melomys rufescens'') * Buka Island mosaic-tailed rat (''Melomys spechti'') *

Long-tailed Talaud mosaic-tailed rat The long-tailed Talaud mosaic-tailed rat or the long-tailed Talaud melomys (''Melomys talaudium'') is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is endemic to Karakelong and Salebabu in the Talaud Islands in Indonesia where it occurs in for ...

(''Melomys talaudium'')

References

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