Vandeleuria Gray 1842

Vandeleuria Gray 1842, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 1, 10: 265.

Type Species: Mus oleraceus Bennett 1832

Species and subspecies: 3 species:

Species Vandeleuria nilagirica Jerdon 1867

Species Vandeleuria nolthenii Phillips 1929

Species Vandeleuria oleracea (Bennett 1832)

Discussion: Micromys Division. An Indomalayan endemic allied to Chiropodomys, Vernaya, and Micromys, a hypothesis based on dental morphology (Misonne, 1969). Ellerman (1949:132) also tied Vandeleuria to Chiropodomys and Micromys through their complex molar occlusal patterns. Using albumin immunology, Watts and Baverstock (1995 b) pointed to Micromys as the closest phylogenetic extant relative of Vandeleuria . Phylogenetic analysis of molar traits by Chaimanee (1998) indicated Vandeleuria formed a clade with Pithecheir and Lenothrix; the close alliance between Vandeleuria and Pithecheir was foretold by Ellerman (1949:132). Because of the immunological relationship between Micromys and Vandeleuria, the early split of Micromys from the central murine lineage represented by a Pogonomys like ancestor (see account of Micromys), and the close cladistic relationship among the Indomalayan Vandeleuria, Pithecheir, and Lenothrix based upon molar traits, Chaimanee speculated that those three genera along with Micromys may be remnants of the "first divergent lineage in the history of Murinae " (1998:208). Fossils extracted from late Pleistocene cave sediments from the Sichuan-Guizhou region of S China were identified as Vandeleuria sp. (Zheng, 1993). Evolutionary history in Thailand, based upon isolated molars recovered from cave strata, extends back to late Pliocene (Chaimanee, 1998).