296.

Shaw Mayer’s Brush Mouse

Pogonomelomys mayeri

French: Pogonomys de Shaw Mayer / German: Shaw-Mayer-Mosaikschwanzratte / Spanish: Raton de cepillo de Shaw Mayer

Other common names: Shaw Mayer's Pogonomelomys

Taxonomy. Melomys mayeri Rothschild & Dollman, 1932,

Gebroeders Mountains, 5000 ft (1524 m), Weyland Range, Province of Papua, West Papua (= Irian Jaya), Indonesia..

The exact relationships of Pogonomelomys within Hydromyini are uncertain and further geneticstudies are needed. Monotypic.

Distribution. Mountains of N & C New Guinea.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 134-152 mm, tail 153-205-8 mm, ear 9-15-6 mm, hindfoot 21-5-30 mm; weight 75-144 g. Shaw Mayer’s Brush Mouse is a smaller Pogonomelomys, the smallest of the genus. Pelage is longer and softer than those of congeners. Dorsal pelage is brown, varying in shades and lighter on the sides; ventral pelage is pure white. Feet are pale and relatively short. Ears are brown; vibrissae long. Tail is long (c.115-135% of head-body length) and monocolored brown, being scaleless and dorsally prehensile at tip. Skull is smaller and with less marked supraorbital ridges compared with those of other species in genus. There are two pairs of mammae, both inguinal.

Habitat. Tropical moist forest habitats at elevations of 400-1500 m.

Food and Feeding. No information.

Breeding. A possibly lactating female was captured in July; in the Telefomin Valley a female was caughtin early April in a nestwith two young, each weighing 13 g.

Activity patterns. Shaw Mayer’s Brush Mouse seems to be at least somewhat arboreal. The nest of a captured female with young was made of leaves and moss and had a tubular structure;it was c.1-5 m above the ground in a Pandanus (Pandanaceae) . Another female was captured in a tree hollow.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. Shaw Mayer’s Brush Mouse has a relatively large distribution and, although it is uncommonly captured, it presumably has a large population. In the north part of its range, it is probably threatened by general habitat loss but has no other major threats. Virtually nothing is known ofthis species, and further research is required in orderfully to understand its natural history and evolution, and to determine any possible threats to it.

Bibliography. Aplin (2016q), Breed & Aplin (1995), Flannery (1995b), Menzies (1990), Musser & Carleton (2005), Steppan & Schenk (2017).