Himalayan Niviventer

discussion

Remarks: Further study is needed to confirm the distribution of this species in Myanmar.

Mammals of Myanmar: an annotated checklist

distribution

Distribution: Bhutan, China, India, Laos, Vietnam and possibly in Northern Myanmar.

Mammals of Myanmar: an annotated checklist

discussion

Discussion: Recognized as a species since Ellerman (1941); N. niviventer later came to embrace populations extending from Nepal through Indochina, Malay Peninsula, and some islands on the Sunda Shelf (Ellerman, 1961; Ellerman and Morrison-Scott, 1951; Niethammer and Martens, 1975); some of the names associated with N. niviventer in those reports now identify separate species or are synonyms of others (N. confucianus, N. culturatus, N. fulvescens, and N tenaster; see those accounts). " There is yet no convincing evidence that the Nepalese populations are the same as those from areas farther east in northern Burma and China " (Musser, 1981 b: 253), or from Thailand (Abe, 1983: 160), or anywhere else in Indochina or on the Sunda Shelf. Multivariate analysis of morphometric traits incorporating samples of most named forms in Niviventer isolates N. niviventer from clusters containing the four species listed above (Musser and Lunde, ms). Our study of specimens in museum collections indicates the geographic distribution of N. niviventer to be strictly Himalayan as outlined by Corbet and Hill (1992). Agrawal (2000) included Bhutan, NE India (Assam, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, a

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae

distribution

Distribution: Himalayas in montane habitats from N Pakistan (USNM 359793), through NW India (Uttar Pradesh), and Nepal to NE India in Sikkim and higher altitudes of West Bengal (Darjiling Dist.); 1800 - 3600 m (Abe, 1977; Agrawal, 2000). Range derived from Musser’s study of specimens (in BMNH, HUNHM, ROM, USNM, and ZFMK), which coincides with that outlined by Corbet and Hill (1992) but not Agrawal (2000; see below).

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae