The fawn-footed mosaic-tailed rat, or fawn-footed melomys (''Melomys cervinipes'') is a species of

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

in the family Muridae. It is found along eastern coastal regions of Australia. The upper parts of this species are a sandy-brown colour, the mottling at the lower parts is grey and whitish. The tail is hairless, the skin of which has a purplish tone. The superficial distinguishing characteristics include soft and short fur, lacking the long guard hairs of other species and adpressed against the body.

John Gould John Gould (; 14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881) was an English ornithologist. He published a number of monographs on birds, illustrated by plates produced by his wife, Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists, including Edward Lear, ...

proposed the epithet ''cervinipes'' for the "fawn-like colouring" of the feet and tarsi, assigning it to the genus '' Mus'' and giving an English name of "Buff-footed Rat". Gould received his specimens from the early natural history collector

Frederick Strange Frederick Strange (? – 1854) was a collector of plant and animal specimens during the early colonisation of Australia. Strange was apparently born in Aylsham, in Norfolk, England, tentatively given as 1826 by his earliest biographer although ...

, who labelled the collections as being "Stradbrook Island, Moreton Bay, where it is called ''Corrill'' by the natives,—Richmond River, where the Aborigines term it ''Cunduoo'',—and the plains bordering the upper parts of the River Brisbane." This species is commonly known by the descriptive English common name fawn-footed melomys, but during the 1990s proposals emerged to restore indigenous Australian names. Accordingly, in 1995, the

Australian Nature Conservation Agency Director of National Parks is a government-owned corporation of the Australian government responsible for the management of a portfolio of terrestrial and marine protected areas proclaimed under the ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Con ...

published recommendations for the common names of rodents. They compiled two indigenous Australian names for this species: ''corrill'', recorded from

Stradbroke Island Stradbroke Island, also known as Minjerribah, was a large sand island that formed much of the eastern side of Moreton Bay near Brisbane, Queensland until the late 19th century. Today the island is split into two islands: North Stradbroke Islan ...

; and ''cunduoo'', recorded from the vicinity of the

Richmond River The Richmond River is a river situated in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia. Course and features The river rises at the northern end of the Richmond Range, near its junction with the McPherson Range, on the Queensl ...

. They recommended the adoption of the former of these names, but with the

orthography An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation. Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and ...

korril. However, this recommendation was not prescriptive, and to what extent it will be adopted remains to be seen.

References

* Melomys Mammals of New South Wales Mammals of Queensland Rodents of Australia Mammals described in 1852 Taxa named by John Gould Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Melomys-stub