Zyzomys

Taxobox
name = "Zyzomys"

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image_caption = The Central Rock Rat ("Zyzomys pedunculatus")
fossil_range = Pleistocene? - Recent
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Rodentia
superfamilia = Muroidea
familia = Muridae
subfamilia = Murinae
genus = "Zyzomys"
genus_authority = Thomas, 1909
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = "Zyzomys argurus"
"Zyzomys maini"
"Zyzomys palatilis"
"Zyzomys pedunculatus"
"Zyzomys woodwardi"

"Zyzomys" is a genus of rodents with unusually thick, long tails. Five species of the genus are known in Australia, where they are called rock rats or thick-tailed rats. They were discovered by Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas in 1909.

Taxonomy

There are five known species of rock-rat, two of which are now extinct: the Arnham Land Rock Rat ("Zyzomys maini") and the Carpentarian Rock Rat ("Zyzomys palatilis"). The Central Rock Rat ("Zyzomys pedunculatus") was once believed to be extinct until rediscovered in 1996.

*Silver-Tailed Rock Rat, "Zyzomys argurus"
*Arnham Land Rock Rat, "Zyzomys maini"
*Carpentarian Rock Rat, "Zyzomys palatilis"
*Central Rock Rat, "Zyzomys pedunculatus"
*Kimberly Rock Rat, "Zyzomys woodwardi"

References

*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.