The sanctuary is named after South Africa's well-known ornithologist and mammalogist, J. Austin Roberts.
It was initially referred to the genus Noronhomys, which is currently known only from the island of Fernando de Noronha off northeastern Brazil, but in 2008 Argentinean mammalogist Ulyses Pardiñas established it as the holotype of a new genus and species of rodent in a publication in the Journal of Mammalogy.
It was named after eminent mammalogist Sydney Anderson in honor of his contributions to the study of Bolivian mammals.
This animal was first described in 1907 by the British mammalogist Oldfield Thomas, based on a single specimen caught by one Mr. C. A. W. Monckton, after whom the species was named, near Brown River, Central Province, south-east Papua New Guinea.
Ellis Le Geyt Troughton (born in Sydney on 29 April 1893; died 30 November 1974) was an Australian zoologist and mammalogist.
Richard Van Gelder (1928–1994), American mammalogist and museum curator