Hydromys

Hydromys Temporal range: Pleistocene - Recent
Hydromys chrysogaster
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Muridae
Subfamily:	Murinae
Genus:	Hydromys É. Geoffroy, 1804
Type species
Hydromys chrysogaster É. Geoffroy, 1804
species
Hydromys chrysogaster Hydromys hussoni Hydromys neobrittanicus Hydromys ziegleri
File:Hydromys-Xeromys.PNG
red=Hydromys chrysogaster green=Xeromys sp. and Hydromys chrysogaster blue= Hydromys spp.

Hydromys is a genus of rodents in the subfamily Murinae. Three species are endemic to New Guinea and nearby islands. The fourth species, the rakali, is also found on Australia. The most recently discovered member of this genus was described in 2005.

List of species

Genus Hydromys - water rats

• Rakali, Hydromys chrysogaster E. Geoffroy, 1804
• Western water rat, Hydromys hussoni Musser and Piik, 1982
• New Britain water rat, Hydromys neobrittanicus Tate and Archbold, 1935
• Ziegler's water rat, Hydromys ziegleri Helgen, 2005

Note: Hydromys habbema Tate and Archbold, 1941 and Hydromys shawmayeri (Hinton, 1943) are placed within Baiyankamys after Helgen, 2005.

References

• Helgen, K. M. 2005. The amphibious murines of New Guinea (Rodentia, Muridae): the generic status of Baiyankamys and description of a new species of Hydromys. Zootaxa, 913:1-20.
• Musser, G. G. and M. D. Carleton. 2005. Superfamily Muroidea. pp. 894–1531 in Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
• Woollard, P. Vestjens, W.J.M and L. Maclean. 1978. The ecology of the eastern water rat Hydromys chrysogaster at Griffith, NSW; Food and feeding habbits. Australian wildlife Research, 5:59-73.

External links

• Water Rat or orange bellied water rat aka Rakali, filmed in the wild at Bakers beach, Tasmania on YouTube