''Mallomys'' is a genus 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 The Muridae, or murids, are the largest family of rodents and of mammals, containing approximately 1,383 species, including many species of mice, rats, and gerbils found naturally throughout Eurasia, Africa, and Australia. The name Muridae comes ...

. The name of the genus is formed from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

μαλλός, ''mallos'', wool, and μῦς, ''mus'', mouse/rat. These very large rats weigh between and are native to highlands 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 southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torres ...

.Flannery, T. (1995). Mammals of New Guinea. Pp. 284-291. Little is known about their behavior, but they are believed to feed on leaves, grasses and other plant material. It contains the following species: * De Vis's woolly rat (''Mallomys aroaensis'') *

Alpine woolly rat The alpine woolly rat (''Mallomys gunung'') is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found only in West Papua, Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the I ...

(''Mallomys gunung'') * Subalpine woolly rat (''Mallomys istapantap'') * Rothschild's woolly rat (''Mallomys rothschildi'') *

Bosavi woolly rat The Bosavi woolly rat is a species of rodent that was discovered deep in the jungle of Papua New Guinea in 2009. It is believed to belong to the genus '' Mallomys'', within the family Muridae, according to initial investigation, although this has ...

(''Mallomys'' sp. nov.) * Arfak woolly rat (''Mallomys'' sp. nov.) * Foja woolly rat (''Mallomys'' sp. nov.)

Conservation International Conservation International (CI) is an American nonprofit environmental organization headquartered in Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia. CI's work focuses on science, policy and partnership with businesses, governments and communities. The org ...

(CI) and the

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 Gui ...

Institute of Science (LIPI) discovered two possibly undescribed

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur ...

s upon visit of the

Foja Mountains The Foja Mountains (Foja Range, Foya Mountains) ( id, Pegunungan Foja) are located just north of the Mamberamo river basin in Papua, Indonesia. The mountains rise to , and have 3,000 square kilometers of old growth tropical rainforest in the in ...

in June 2007: a ''

Cercartetus The genus ''Cercartetus'' is a group of very small possums known as pygmy possums. Four species comprise this genus, which together with the genus '' Burramys'' make up the marsupial family Burramyidae. It has occasionally been presumed that ' ...

pygmy possum The pygmy possums are a family of small possums that together form the marsupial family Burramyidae. The five extant species of pygmy possum are grouped into two genera. Four of the species are endemic to Australia, with one species also co-oc ...

, one of the world's smallest marsupials, and a ''Mallomys'' giant rat (five times the size of a

Brown Rat The brown rat (''Rattus norvegicus''), also known as the common rat, street rat, sewer rat, wharf rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat, Norwegian rat and Parisian rat, is a widespread species of common rat. One of the largest muroids, it is a brown o ...

) - found in

's Papua in 2005. Afp.google.com, Two new mammals found in Indonesian 'lost world': green group

References

Rodent genera Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Rodents of New Guinea {{Murinae-stub