The Flores long-nosed rat (''Paulamys naso''), also known as Paula's long-nosed rat, 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 na ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to Flores Island,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. This species was first described from

subfossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved in ...

fragments collected in the 1950s by

Theodor Verhoeven Theodorus (Theo) Lambertus Verhoeven, SVD, (17 September 1907, Uden, The Netherlands – 3 June 1990, Antwerp, Belgium) was a Dutch missionary and archaeologist who has become famous by his discovery of stone tools on the Indonesian island of ...

, who named it Paula's long-nosed rat, and was named ''Floresomys naso'' by

Guy Musser Guy Graham Musser (August 10, 1936 – October 2019) was an American zoologist. His main research was in the field of the rodent subfamily Murinae, in which he has described many new species. Musser was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. He attended ...

in 1981.Alexandra van der Geer, George Lyras, John de Vos, Michael Dermitzakis
Evolution of Island Mammals: Adaptation and Extinction of Placental Mammals on Islands
John Wiley & Sons, Feb 14, 2011 Since Floresomys was preoccupied, Musser changed the name to ''Paulamys'', after Verhoeven's life partner Paula Hamerlinck. A living specimen was reported from the

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

of western Flores in 1989. It is recorded as common between 1,000 and 2,000 m above sea level on the volcanic mountain Gunung Ranakah, but is believed to be threatened by

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

. It is the only known member of the genus ''Paulamys'' . The genera

Papagomys ''Papagomys'' is a genus of very large rats in the tribe Rattini of the subfamily Murinae. It contains two species, which are known only from the Indonesian island of Flores:Musser and Carleton, 2005; Zijlstra et al., 2008; Aplin and Helgen, 2010 ...

Komodomys The Komodo rat or Nusa Tenggara Komodomys, (''Komodomys rintjanus'') is a species of rodent in the family Muridae found only in the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeas ...

and Paulamys are closer related to each other than to other murids, suggesting an adaptive radiation.

References

Old World rats and mice Mammals of Indonesia Mammals described in 1981 Rodents of Flores {{murinae-stub