Notes on the diets of four rodent species from Goodenough Island.

Goodenough Island is in the Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea and is located off of New Guinea's eastern coast. Goodenough Island has a unique yet poorly studied mammal community. Previous dietary study of mycophagous New Guinean forest wallabies showed that Goodenough Island's endemic black forest wallaby (Dorcopsis atrata) ate at least 12 taxa of fungi. Using spirit collections at the Australian Museum in Sydney, we evaluated and compared fungal diversity in rodent diets on the same island. We sampled diets of four Goodenough Island rodent species (Chiruromys forbesi , Paramelomys platyops , Rattus exulans and Rattus mordax) and show that fungi are dietary components for three of these mammals. This research note investigates the diets of four rare rodents found on Goodenough Island in the Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea. The study also provides insights into the ecological role of these rodents as dispersers of fungal spores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]