Melomys Thomas, 1922 . Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, 9:261.

TYPE SPECIES: Uromys rufescens Alston, 1877 .

SYNONYMS: Paramelomys .

COMMENTS: Member of the Australian and New Guinea region Old Endemics (Musser, 1981c, 19826). Morphological and distributional limits need revision. Currently, three primary groups can be recognized: (1) species endemic or indigenous to New Guinea region ( fellowsi, gracilis, leucogaster, levipes, lorentzii, mollis, moncktoni, platyops, and rufescens); (2) Australian species ( capensis, cervinipes, rubicola), one occurring on Australia and New Guinea ( burtoni), and some Moluccan species ( aerosus, fraterculus, and obiensis); (3) New Guinea lanosus and rattoides . Data from microcomplement fixation of albumin indicated Australian Melomys was closely related to Uromys and in the same monophyletic group with Mesembriomys, Leporillus, Conilurus, and Zyzomys (Watts et al., 1992) .

Mahoney and Richardson (1988) cataloged taxonomic, distributional, and biological references to Australian species; Flannery (19906) summarized the same for many of the New Guinea Melomys.