the bramble cay melomys went extinct in 2016.
the bramble cay melomys went extinct in 2016.
when did the bramble cay melomys go extinct?
2016
the bramble cay melomys, or bramble cay mosaic-tailed rat ("melomys rubicola"), is a recently extinct species of rodent in the family muridae and subfamily murinae. it was an endemic species of the isolated bramble cay, a vegetated coral cay located at the northern tip of the great barrier reef in australia. described by researchers as having last been seen in 2009 and declared extinct by the queensland government and university of queensland researchers in 2016, it was formally declared extinct by the international union for conservation of nature (iucn) in may 2015 and the australian government in february 2019. considered the only mammal endemic to the reef, its extinction was described as the first extinction of a mammal species due to anthropogenic climate change.
bramble cay melomys
the bramble cay melomys is an extinct member of the genus "melomys", which contains approximately 20 species of rodents living in the wet habitats of northern australia (far north queensland), new guinea, torres strait islands and islands of the indonesian archipelago. the genus is in the subfamily murinae, and the family muridae. the bramble cay melomys was first discovered in april 1845 by charles bampfield yule, commander of the british ship hms "bramble" on bramble cay, a vegetated coral cay measuring located at the northern tip of the great barrier reef. at that time, the animal was so plentiful that his crew shot them with bows and arrows for fun. in may 1845, while visiting bramble cay via the hms "fly", naturalist john macgillivray and joseph jukes collected a holotype, stored today in the british museum of natural history. from the specimen, oldfield thomas formally described and named the species "melomys rubicola" in 1924.
bramble cay melomys