Leopoldamys edwardsi (Thomas 1882)

[Leopoldamys] edwardsi (Thomas 1882), Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1882: 587.

Type Locality: China, mountains of W Fujian (probably Kuatun).

Vernacular Names: Edward's Leopoldamys.

Synonyms: Leopoldamys garonum (Thomas 1921); Leopoldamys gigas (Satunin 1903); Leopoldamys hainanensis (Xu and Yu 1985); Leopoldamys listeri (Thomas 1916); Leopoldamys melli (Matschie 1922) .

Distribution: NW India (W Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, and Nagaland; Agrawal, 2000; Ellerman, 1961); N Burma (Anthony, 1941; Ellerman, 1961), S and C China (to S Anhui, including Hainan Isl; G. M. Allen [1940] Liu et al. [1985], Wang [2003], Wu et al. [1996]), N Laos (Ellerman, 1961; Osgood, 1932), N and C Vietnam (Dang et al., 1994; Lunde et al., 2003 b; Osgood, 1932), and isolated montane population in N Thailand (Phu Kadeung Plateau, Loei Province; J. T. Marshall, Jr., 1977 a). Range (excluding ciliatus and milleti) mostly extracted from Musser (1981 b), Corbet and Hill (1992), and specimens examined in AMNH, BMNH, FMNH, IEBR, MVZ, RMBR, and USNM.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Requires taxonomic revision. Association of the synonyms with L. edwardsi essentially derives from Osgood’s (1932:311) suggestion, which has yet to be tested by careful systematic study. Osgood included the Malayan and Sumatran ciliatus (including setiger), along with the S Vietnam milleti, as forms of L. edwardsi, but we list them as separate species. In addition to the synonyms assembled by Osgood (1932) and Musser (1981 b), Xu and Yu (1985) described hainanensis from Hainan Isl. Those specimens have significantly smaller external, cranial, and dental measurements than characterize other samples of L. edwardsi and if adults may represent a separate species. Phallic morphology described by Yang and Fang (1988) in context of assessing phylogenetic relationships among Chinese murines. Ecological relationships with species of Bandicota, Mus, Maxomys, Niviventer, and Rattus in S Yunnan reported by Wu et al. (1996).

A large series (in AMNH and IEBR) collected between 200 and 1200 m in the N Truong Son Range along the N Vietnam-Laos border in Hà T «nh Province of Vietnam resembles L. edwardsi in pelage coloration but approaches L. sabanus in relative tail length and other features. Comparison of their mtDNA cytochrome b sequences with sequences from L. sabanus and L. edwardsi taken farther north in Vietnam isolates the Hà T «nh sample as a separate species for which no name is currently available (J. L. Patton, in litt., 1999). How this population phylogenetically is related to samples now identified as L. edwardsi from N Laos and Thailand as well as NE India and N Burma requires systematic resolution. Fossils identified as L. edwardsi come from early Pleistocene to Recent cave sediments in the Sichuan-Guozhou region of S China (Zheng, 1993).