Margaretamys Musser 1981

Margaretamys Musser 1981, Bull. Am. Mus . Nat. Hist., 168 (3): 275.

Type Species: Mus beccarii Jentink 1880

Species and subspecies: 3 species:

Species Margaretamys beccarii (Jentink 1880)

Species Margaretamys elegans Musser 1981

Species Margaretamys parvus Musser 1981

Discussion: Pithecheir Division. Morphological, chromosomal, and distributional features monographed by Musser (1981 b). Spermatozoal morphology distinctive and similar among the three species (Breed and Musser, 1991). Member of the Sulawesi Old Endemics (Musser, 1981 c); nearest phylogenetic ally unknown, but probably more closely related to Sulawesi Lenomys and Eropeplus and Sundaic Lenothrix than any other murine (Musser’s unpublished research): "Possibly the three species of Margaretamys represent fragments of an early murid stock of which Lenothrix is a more primitive remnant" (Musser, 1981 b:325). Pavlinov et al. (1995 a) listed Margaretamys in a Pithecheir Section of a more inclusive Micromys Group. All three species of Margaretamys are arboreal and found only in primary forest formations.