Apodemus semotus Thomas 1908

Apodemus semotus Thomas 1908, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, 1: 44.

Type Locality: Taiwan (M.-j. Yu, 1996).

Vernacular Names: Taiwan Field Mouse.

Distribution: Endemic to montane habitats on Taiwan (H.- T. Yu, 1994).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (nt).

Discussion: Apodemus group. Usually included in subgenus Alsomys (Pavlinov et al, 1995 a); placed in an Apodemus Group by Musser et al. (1996) based on morphology, which is consistent with analyses of allozymic data and mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences (Filippucci et al., 2002; Liu et al., 2004; Michaux et al., 2002 a; Serizawa et al., 2000; Suzuki et al., 2003); however, Chelomina et al. (1998 b) grouped A. semotus with A. argenteus using mtDNA cytochrome b sequences. Originally described as a species, but subsequently treated as a subspecies of A. sylvaticus (Ellerman, 1949; Ellerman and Morrison-Scott, 1951), then either regarded as a species closely related in morphology to mainland A. draco (Corbet, 1978 c) or questionably included in that species (Corbet and Hill, 1992), and finally recognized as a separate specific entity (Musser and Carleton, 1993; Liu et al., 2002; Musser et al., 1996; Wang, 2003; molecular reports cited above). Included in studies on ecology, altitudinal distributions, and patterns of diversification and genetic population structure of small Taiwanese mammals (Adler, 1996; H.- T. Yu, 1993, 1994, 1995). Relationship of montane A. semotus to lowland A. agrarius, based upon allozymic data, documented by H.- T. Yu (1995).