A new species of bandicoot, Microperoryctes aplini, from western New Guinea

A distinctive new striped bandicoot of the genus Microperoryctes (M. aplini new species) is described and compared with Microperoryctes murina, another little-known bandicoot with which the new species has been confused in the past. The smallest of all living bandicoots, M. aplini is apparently restricted to high-elevation forests in the Arfak Mountains of the Vogelkop Peninsula of western New Guinea. The similarly small M. murina is known only from high-elevation forests on Gunung Sumuri, a peak in the Weyland Range of western New Guinea. The two species differ markedly in fur colour and ornamentation, pelage texture, external proportions, and quantitative and qualitative craniodental aspects, and may not be immediately related to one another.