Coccymys ruemmleri

Voss, Musser Scientific Publications Of The American Museum Of Natural History American Museum Novitates Bulletin Of The American Museum Of Natural History Anthropological Papers Of The American Museum Of Natural History Publications Committee Robert S., Meng, Chair Board Of Editors Jin, Prendini, Paleontology Lorenzo, Voss, Invertebrate Zoology Robert S., Whiteley, Vertebrate Zoology Peter M., Knight, Anthropology Managing Editor Mary, Lunde, And, New Guinea Coccymys, Melomys & Bulletin, Albidens Amnh, 2009, Systematic Reviews Of New Guinea Coccymys And ‘‘ Melomys’ ’ Albidens (Muridae, Murinae) With Descriptions Of New Taxa, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2009 (329), pp. 1-139 : 1-139

Coccymys ruemmleri

( Tate and Archbold, 1941)

HOLOTYPE AND TYPE LOCALITY: The holotype of Coccymys ruemmleri is an adult male (AMNH 150669) collected by W.B. Richardson (original number 4523) on July 26, 1938. It consists of an intact stuffed study skin (fig. 6) and skull, which, except for the missing jugal bones, is in good condition (fig. 9). Occlusal surfaces of molars are worn, but cusp patterns are still evident. External, cranial, and dental measurements are listed in table 7.

The type locality is about 15 miles (24 km) north of Mt. Wilhelmina ( Gunung Trikora on contemporary maps) at 3225 m near Lake Habbema (04 ° 499S/138 ° 419E; locality 4 in gazetteer and fig. 2), which is nestled between ridges forming northern slopes of the Snow Mountains (‘‘Sneeuw Gebergte’’ on older Dutch maps; Pegunungan Maoke is the Indonesian designation on contemporary maps and in modern gazetteers), that region of the Central Cordillera in western New Guinea (Papua Province, Indonesia).

EMENDED DIAGNOSIS: Most of the traits enumerated in the generic diagnosis also characterize C. ruemmleri : the dorsal fur is soft, thick (11–14 mm, measured near the rump), and dark brown (suffused with black in some individuals); underparts are whitish gray to dark grayish white, with the darker tone predominating in samples (a few specimens exhibit a buffy wash resulting in grayish buff underparts); the tail is longer than length of head and body (LT/LHB 5 140%–146%; table 3), brown everywhere in

TABLE 3 Descriptive Statistics for Measurements (mm) of Lengths of Head and Body (LHB), Tail (LT), Hind Foot (LHF), and Ear (LE) from Population Samples of Coccymys ruemmleri , Coccymys shawmayeri , Coccymys kirrhos , and Brassomys albidens a (Mean plus or minus one SD and observed range [in parentheses] are listed. Specimens measured are listed in footnotes.) TABLE 4

Descriptive Statistics for Cranial and Dental Measurements (mm) from Population

Samples of Brassomys albidens and Coccymys ruemmleri

(Mean plus or minus one SD and observed range [in parentheses] are listed.)

most specimens, with a very few (6 out of 55; 11%) showing a short white tip (table 8); the skull has a long rostrum and bony palate, bulbous braincase, and heavy molars.

GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION: As documented by modern and fossil specimens, C. ruemmleri is known only from the Snow Mountains and the adjacent Star Mountains to the east, which together comprise most of the high Central Cordillera of western New Guinea (see fig. 2 and gazetteer). This mountain backbone is part of what Flannery (1995: 37) labeled the ‘‘ Western Sub-Province’ ’ of the ‘‘ Tumbunan Biogeographic Province’ ’ that was defined by Schodde and Calaby (1972) ; the Sub-Province extends from the Paniai (5 Wissel) Lakes region in the west (03 ° 559S, 136 ° 159E) to the deep valley of the Strickland River in the east (06 ° 309S, 142 ° 049E). Helgen (2007c) regards the Snow Mountains region and Star Mountains region as separate zoogeographic divisions .

TABLE 5 Descriptive Statistics for Cranial and Dental Measurements (mm) from Population Samples of Coccymys shawmayeri (Mean plus or minus one SD and observed range [in parentheses] are listed.)

A few Holocene subfossils collected at the base of the Carstensz Massif (Mt. Jaya) comprise the westernmost sample from the Snow Mountains (J.H. Hope, 1976). To the east is the source of the largest modern sample (in AMNH), collected from a transect along the northern slopes of the Snow Mountains, extending from the Bele River valley at 2200 m through the terrain around Lake Habbema at 3235 m and onto the high flanks of Mt. Wilhelmina between 3560 and 4040 m (figs. 2, 47, 48). Fossils excavated from Pleistocene sediments in Kelangurr Cave come from about 60 km west of Lake Habbema, in a valley leading into the broader valley of the West Baliem River.

The easternmost record consists of specimens from 3100 and 3200 m in the eastern section of the Star Mountains in western Papua New Guinea (in BBM; also Flannery and Seri, 1990) .

Coccymys ruemmleri most likely occurs throughout the high reaches of the western Central Cordillera, but the vast montane

TABLE 6

Cranial and Dental Measurements (mm) for Samples of Coccymys kirrhos (Mean plus or minus one SD and observed range [in parentheses] are listed for the sample from Mt. Dayman.)

landscape between documented collection sites in the Carstensz and Wilhelmina regions of the Snow Mountains and those localities to the east in the Star Mountains has not enjoyed any significant biological surveys focusing upon small mammals ( Helgen, 2007a). Aside from activities along the transect between Mt. Wilhelmina and the Bele River valley, undertaken by the Archbold Expedition in 1938, results of only a few other attempts to obtain living small mammals in the area have been published. Patricia Woolley visited Lake Habbema in 1989 (see Woolley, 1990) where she collected several species of small mammals not taken in previous survey efforts, which included samples of Pseudohydromys ellermani and anoth- er species of Pseudohydromys that is being described ( Helgen, 2007a). Her specimens are deposited in the Australian Museum at

TABLE 7

Measurements (mm) for Holotypes (All Are Adults) of Coccymys kirrhos , Coccymys ruemmleri , Coccymys shawmayeri , and Brassomys albidens

Sydney. Collections have been made on the north slopes of the Carstensz area during the Carstensz Glaciers Expedition where subfossils were gathered (J.H. Hope, 1976), at a few locations on the south slope ( Misonne, 1979), and in the Kwiyawagi area where Pleistocene fossils were collected at Kelangurr Cave ( Flannery, 1999)—no living examples of C. ruemmleri were taken during any of these surveys. J.H. Hope (1976) accounted for 20 species of mammals obtained during the Carstensz Glaciers Expedition; of these only seven were observed, collected, or trapped, and 13 are represented by subfossils collected in limestone shelters. Trapping efforts yielded only eight Rattus richardsoni , eight Rattus arrogans (reported as R. niobe ), and two Paramelomys rubex in the way of rodents. As part of the Kelangurr Cave survey, Flannery (1999) surveyed the modern mammal fauna in the Kwiyawagi area (six days in June, 1994) and accounted for14 species of marsupials, two species of bats, and nine species of rodents. We asked Tim Flannery why C. ruemmleri was not encountered and he wrote us: ‘‘As to ruemmleri in the Kwiyawagi area, we did limited trapping there so I’m not surprised we missed it. Local people seemed to collect specimens from around the villages at 2950 m and we only got upper montane and mostly larger mammals there.’’

Other collections from the Snow Mountains are the results of Dutch surveys to the Paniai Lake region and on the south slopes of

TABLE 8 Frequency and Length of White Tail Tip in Geographic Samples of Coccymys ruemmleri , Coccymys shawmayeri , and Coccymys kirrhos a (Totals for lengths of white tip are expressed as mean plus or minus one SD and observed range [in parentheses].)

the Snow Mountains along the Lorentz and Utakwa rivers ( Helgen, 2007c). No examples of Coccymys were acquired. Large samples of rodents were obtained near the Paniai Lake around 1750 m; perhaps too low for C. ruemmleri , judged from its lower altitudinal limit along the Archbold transect on the northern slopes of the Snow Mountains (2200 m).

Surveys for mammals in the high reaches of the Star Mountains have been spotty. Except for the especially fine efforts by A.B. Mirza, who collected the BBM sample of C. ruemmleri from above 3000 m, and the single record of C. ruemmleri from Mt. Capella at 3200 m ( Flannery and Seri, 1990), the only significant mammalian inventories have focused on the lower northeastern slopes bounding the Telefomin Valley and in the Miyanmin area of the Telefomin District ( Morren, 1989; Flannery and Seri, 1990; collections in BBM made by A.B. Mirza), and in the rainforests (‘‘Foothill Rain Forest to Midmontane Rain Forest,’’ 500–2500 m) of the OK Tedi headwaters on the southern flanks of the Star Mountains ( Hyndman and Menzies, 1990). Surveys in the Telefomin area between 2300 and 2800 m have yielded only C. shawmayeri (see gazetteer), and no examples of Coccymys were collected during the study described by Hyndman and Menzies (1990). The bulk of the Star Mountains, particularly altitudes at 3000 m and above, remain unexplored for mammals ( Helgen, 2007a).

3225, on the northern flanks of the Snow Mountains. Measurements are listed in table 7.