Hydromys shawmayeri (Hinton, 1943)

Guy G. Musser & Michael D. Carleton, 1993, Order Rodentia - Family Muridae, Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition), Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 501-755 : 597-598

Hydromys shawmayeri (Hinton, 1943) . Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 11, 10:552.

TYPE LOCALITY: Papua New Guinea, SE Bismarck Range, Purari-Ramu Divide, Baiyanka, 6500 ft .

DISTRIBUTION: New Guinea; recorded only along Papuan Central Cordillera from Hagen Range in the west to Mt Kaindi area in the east (localities 1 -4 that were mapped as “ H. habbema " in Musser and Piik, 1982:156).

COMMENTS: Although identified as H. habbema , specimens from Papua New Guinea were noted to exhibit significant morphological differences from true habbema in Irian Jaya, not only in body size but also in certain cranial proportions ( Mahoney, 1968; Musser and Piik, 1982; Tate, 1951). These and other contrasts support the hypothesis of an eastern ( shawmayeri ) and a western ( habbema ) species, a pattern that is common to other New Guinea murines ( Pseudohydromys murinus and P. occidentalis , for example). Mahoney (1968) discussed the problems associated with the original holotype of shawmayeri , which was described as a species of Baiyankamys .