Pseudomys higginsi Trouessart 1897

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Rodentia - Family Muridae, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 2, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 1189-1531 : 1458

Pseudomys higginsi Trouessart 1897

Pseudomys higginsi Trouessart 1897 , Cat. Mamm. Viv. Foss., Vol. 1: 473.

Type Locality: Australia, Tasmania, Kentishbury; see Mahoney and Richardson (1988:177).

Vernacular Names: Long-tailed Pseudomys.

Synonyms: Pseudomys australiensis Wakefield 1972 ; Pseudomys leucopus (Higgins and Petterd 1881) .

Distribution: Australia; extant population known only from Tasmania ( Rounsevell et al., 1991); represented on mainland in Victoria and E New South Wales by late Pleistocene samples ( Wakefield, 1972 b).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Spermatozoal morphology (Breed, 1983) and electrophoretic data ( Baverstock et al., 1981) placed P. higginsi with most other species of Pseudomys , but phallic anatomy ( Lidicker and Brylski, 1987) clustered P. higginsi with P. australis , P. gouldii , and P. nanus . Wakefield (1972 b) described australiensis as a subspecies based on late Pleistocene fossils. Reviewed by Watts and Aslin (1981) and Green (1995).