265.

Bannister’s Mosaic-tailed Rat

Melomys bannisteri

French: Mélomys de Bannister / German: Banniste-Mosaikschwanzratte / Spanish: Rata de cola moteada de Bannister

Other common names: Bannister's Rat, Great Kai Island Mosaic-Tailed Rat, Great Key Island Melomys

Taxonomy. Melomys bannister: Kitchener & Maryanto, 1993,

2 km W of Fakoi, Pulau Kai Besar (= Great Key Island), Maluku Tengah (Moluccas), Indonesia. According to T. F. Flannery in 1995 and J. I. Menzies in 1996, M. bannisteri is very close to the M. lutillus species complex. G. G.Musser and M. D. Carleton in 2005 provisionally treat M. bannisteri as distinct, noting that the Kai Islands do not belong to the continental shelf connecting Australia and New Guinea and have been geographically isolated for a very long time. In absence of further revision ofthis taxon,this view is adhered to here. Monotypic.

Distribution. Kai Besar I, Kai Is, Indonesia.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 138 mm, tail 127 mm, ear 18 mm, hindfoot 28 mm. No specific data are available for body weight. This small to medium-sized Melomys was described as having a cinnamon-brown dorsal pelage and white underparts. Tail is of same length as head-body length, and is grayish brown above and pale gray below. Females have two pairs of mammae.

Habitat. Disturbed, partially open, lowland rainforest with ground cover of bracken fern and low sedges, from sea level up to 500 m.

Food and Feeding. No information.

Breeding. One collected female had two placental scars and was lactating, while three males, all collected in October, were adults.

Activity patterns. No information.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Endangered on The IUCN Red List. Bannister’s Mosaic-tailed Rat is known only from type locality and from four individuals collected within a range ofless than 570 km?, which is threatened by logging. The species seems able to adapt, at least to some extent, to anthropogenic perturbations.

Bibliography. Flannery (1995a), Kitchener & Maryanto (1993), Menzies (1996), Musser & Carleton (2005).