Mus (Pyromys) saxicola Elliot 1839

Mus (Pyromys) saxicola Elliot 1839, Madras J. Litt. Sci., Vol. 10: 215.

Type Locality: India, Madras.

Vernacular Names: Saxicolous Mouse.

Synonyms: Mus (Pyromys) cinderella (Wroughton 1912); Mus (Pyromys) gurkha (Thomas 1914); Mus (Pyromys) khumbuensis Biswas and Khajuria 1968; Mus (Pyromys) priestlyi (Thomas 1911); Mus (Pyromys) ramnadensis Bentham 1908; Mus (Pyromys) sadhu Wroughton 1911 .

Distribution: India (disjunct distribution mapped by Agrawal, 2000), S Nepal, and S Pakistan.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Subgenus Pyromys . Indian populations reviewed by Agrawal (2000), who recognized three subspecies based primarily upon the chromosomal traits originally documented by Rishi and Puri (1978; 2n = 22-26). Corbet and Hill (1992) expressed the need to confirm the inclusion of gurkha, which has soft fur, in the spinous-furred M. saxicola . J. T. Marshall, Jr. (1998;63) examined the holotype of pygmaeus and identified it as a nestling M. saxicola; Musser and Carleton (1993) had listed it as a synonym of M. musculus . Sister-group to members of subgenus Mus as assessed by analysis of sequences from six genes (Lundrigan et al., 2002). Analyses of DNA/DNA hybridizations and mitochondrial 12S rRNA sequences but not morphological traits support close relationship between M. saxicola and M. platythrix, also in subgenus Pyromys (Chevret et al., 2003) . Occurrence and ecology in the Aravalli ranges of Rajasthan State reported by Prakash et al. (1995 a, b, c) and in Gujarat State of NW India by Chakraborty and Agrawal (2000).