Dipus mitchellii Ogilby, 1838b

Parnaby, Harry E., Ingleby, Sandy & Divljan, Anja, 2017, Type Specimens of Non-fossil Mammals in the Australian Museum, Sydney, Records of the Australian Museum 69 (5), pp. 277-420 : 407

Dipus mitchellii Ogilby, 1838b

Lond. Edinb. Phil. Mag. & J. of Sci. 12, supplement to no. 71, 95–96 [Abstract of Ogilby, 1838c]. (31 January 1838).

Common name. Mitchell’s Hopping-mouse.

Current name. Notomys mitchellii (W. Ogilby, 1838b) , following Jackson & Groves (2015), who consider that the entire genus needs a complete taxonomic revision.

Holotype. Whereabouts unknown. Specimen No. 22 in catalogue of AM specimens of Bennett (1837), from “Reedy Plains, near the junction of the Murray and Murrumbidgee” ( Ogilby, 1838c). Alleged syntypes: PA.73,?sex, skin mount, skull in situ; PA.74,?sex, skull, skin mount; both entered by Palmer as “ Hapalotis mitchellii Lower Murray River”. Collection date and collector not recorded by Palmer. Both specimens registered in c.1878.

Comments. Troughton (1941 and subsequent editions) believed that Mitchell’s original material of this taxon was still in the AM Collection. However, in a detailed discussion of the type of this taxon, Mahoney (1982) concluded that: a) only a single specimen (i.e. the holotype) was available for the drawing upon which Ogilby’s description is based, and that the type locality is 12 km SE of Lake Boga, NW Victoria; b) the holotype is likely to be specimen No. 22 in a catalogue of Bennett (1837), but to date it has not been possible to locate this specimen; c), neither of the two Australian Museum specimens PA.73 and PA.74, cited as types of mitchellii (e.g., Tate, 1951b: 259), are likely to be the holotype; d) PA.73 and 74 could be specimens listed by Krefft (1864a), either those presented to the AM by Mitchell, or part of the series listed as being obtained on the Lower Murray River. Ogilby (1892) states that the type (as Conilurus mitchellii ) was in the AM but it is not clear if he sighted it, or simply presumed that it was.