NEW HI OBSERVATIONS OF THE PROTOTYPE POLAR RING GALAXY NGC4650A

New, high-resolution observations of the HI emission line and 20 cm co ntinuum at the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) for the protot ype polar ring galaxy NGC 4650A are presented. They shaw the presence of a far more extended HI distribution than previously observed with t he VLA, and a very regular velocity field out to a distance of similar to 50 kpc. The combined analysis of the HI data with optical and near -infrared (NIR) images argues against previous warp models used to des cribe the dynamics of this object. Further analysis of the new B-band image obtained at the European Southern Observatories New Technology T elescope (NTT) indicates clearly that the polar structure extends cont inuously to within about 200 pc of the nucleus of the central host gal axy, ruling out the presence of a 'hole' in the central region of this component. The presence of two spiral arms stretching out in the pola r disk seems to represent the most likely explanation for the observed morphology and kinematics.