''Chiruromys'' is a genus of
Old World mouse that is restricted to
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu
Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea).
It is a simplified version of ...
and the nearby islands of
Goodenough,
Fergusson, and
Normanby.
Characteristics
These are small
arboreal
Arboreal locomotion is the Animal locomotion, locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally, but others are exclusively arboreal. Th ...
rats with long tails. Head and body is , tail is , and weight is .
[Nowak, 1999] The fur is grey to brown above with a white belly. They are restricted to forests where they spend all of their time in the canopy. They live in groups usually consisting of a breeding pair and their offspring (usually one to three) (Nowak, 1999).
Classification
Musser and Carleton (2005) considered ''Chiruromys'' to be a member of the ''Pogonomys'' Division within the
Murinae
The Old World rats and mice, part of the subfamily Murinae in the family Muridae, comprise at least 519 species. Members of this subfamily are called murines. In terms of species richness, this subfamily is larger than all mammal families excep ...
along with the genera ''
Pogonomys
''Pogonomys'' is a genus of rodent in the family Muridae, found in New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the south ...
'', ''
Hyomys'', ''
Macruromys
''Macruromys'' is a genus of rodent in the family Muridae endemic to New Guinea.
It contains the following species:
* Lesser small-toothed rat
The lesser small-toothed rat or western small-toothed rat (''Macruromys elegans'') is a species of ...
'', ''
Mallomys
''Mallomys'' is a genus of rodent in the family Muridae. The name of the genus is formed from the Greek μαλλός, ''mallos'', wool, and μῦς, ''mus'', mouse/rat. These very large rats weigh between and are native to highlands in New Guin ...
'', ''
Coccymys
''Coccymys'' is a genus of rodent in the family Muridae endemic to Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
It contains the following species:
* '' Coccymys kirrhos''
* Rümmler's brush mouse
Rümmler's brush mouse or Rümmler's mouse (''Coccymys ruem ...
'', and ''
Anisomys''. It is considered a New Guinea Old Endemic, part of the initial wave of murines colonizing the island.
Species
Genus ''Chiruromys''
*
Greater tree mouse, ''Chiruromys forbesi''
*
Lamia
LaMia Corporation S.R.L., operating as LaMia (short for ''Línea Aérea Mérida Internacional de Aviación''), was a Bolivian charter airline headquartered in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, as an EcoJet subsidiary. It had its origins from the failed ...
, ''Chiruromys lamia''
*
Lesser tree mouse
The lesser tree mouse (''Chiruromys vates'') is a species of rodent in the family Muridae found only in Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State ...
, ''Chiruromys vates''
References
*Musser, G. G. and M. D. Carleton. 2005. Superfamily Muroidea. pp. 894–1531 ''in'' Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
*Nowak, Ronald M. 1999. ''Walker's Mammals of the World'', 6th edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1936 pp.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q134866
Rodents of Papua New Guinea
Rodent genera
Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas
Endemic fauna of Papua New Guinea