Desmomys Thomas, 1910

Guy G. Musser & Michael D. Carleton, 1993, Order Rodentia - Family Muridae, Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition), Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 501-755 : 590

Desmomys Thomas, 1910 . Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, 5:284.

TYPE SPECIES: Pelomys harringtoni Thomas, 1902 .

COMMENTS: Listed as a genus by Allen (1939), but usually treated as a subgenus of Pelomys ( Corbet and Hill, 1991; Ellerman, 1941; Rupp, 1980; Yalden et al., 1976). Most of the diagnostic traits described by Thomas (1910b) are outside the range of morphological variation seen among species of Pelomys . Our study of specimens revealed that general external traits and cranial conformation of D. harringtoni , the only species in the genus, resemble species of Mylomys and Pelomys , but that Desmomys has its own derived dental patterns (ridge-like cusp t9 connecting central cusp t8 with labial cusp t6 on first and second molars, ridge-like cusp t7 on second upper molar). The phylogenetic relationships among species of Desmomys , Pelomys , and Mylomys has to be assessed by revisionary study. See the account of Mylomys for the status of rex , which is usually placed in Desmomys ( Yalden et al., 1976) .