''Hydromys'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

semiaquatic In biology, semiaquatic can refer to various types of animals that spend part of their time in water, or plants that naturally grow partially submerged in water. Examples are given below. Semiaquatic animals Semi aquatic animals include: * Ve ...

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 ...

s in the subfamily

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 ...

. Three

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

are

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 else ...

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 southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

and nearby islands. The fourth species, the rakali, is also found on Australia. The most recently discovered member of this genus was described in 2005.

List of species

Genus ''Hydromys'' - water rats *

Rakali The rakali (''Hydromys chrysogaster)'', also known as the rabe or water-rat, is an Australian native rodent first described in 1804. Adoption of the Aboriginal name Rakali is intended to foster a positive public attitude by Environment Australia ...

, ''Hydromys chrysogaster'' E. Geoffroy, 1804 *

Western water rat The western water rat (''Hydromys hussoni'') is a semiaquatic species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found in West Papua, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. It is threatened by habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat los ...

, ''Hydromys hussoni'' Musser and Piik, 1982 * New Britain water rat, ''Hydromys neobritannicus'' Tate and Archbold, 1935 * Ziegler's water rat, ''Hydromys ziegleri'' Helgen, 2005 Note: ''

Hydromys habbema The mountain water rat (''Baiyankamys habbema'') is a semiaquatic species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found in West Papua, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Its natural habitat is river A river is a natural flowing watercours ...

'' Tate and Archbold, 1941 and ''

Hydromys shawmayeri Shaw Mayer's water rat (''Baiyankamys shawmayeri'') is a semiaquatic species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found in the mountains of Papua New Guinea. Names It is known as kuypep kuykuy-sek in the Kalam language of Papua New Guinea ...

'' (Hinton, 1943) are placed within ''

Baiyankamys '' Baiyankamys'' is a genus of amphibious murid rodents. It was originally described, along with the species '' Baiyankamys shawmayeri'' by Hinton in 1943 after he found the remains of a single individual in south east of the Bismarck Mountain ...

'' after Helgen, 2005.

References

* * *

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q668884 Rodent genera Taxa named by Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire