Chiropodomys pusillus Thomas 1893

Chiropodomys pusillus Thomas 1893, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 6, 11: 345.

Type Locality: Malaysia (Borneo), Sabah, Gunung Kinabalu, 1000 ft (305 m).

Vernacular Names: Lesser Pencil-tailed Tree Mouse.

Distribution: Recorded only from Sabah, Sarawak, and S Kalimantan (Musser, 1979), but probably occurs throughout Borneo.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Thomas described pusillus as a species, but Musser (1979) treated it as a distinctive subspecies of C. gliroides . However, the few known specimens of pusillus represent a population of small-bodied mice in which the range of variation of most dimensions are outside of the range recorded for all other samples of C. gliroides . On Mt Kinabalu in Sabah, C. pusillus is found between 300 and 1220 m (Md Nor, 2001; recorded as gliroides). Member of the endemic Bornean murine fauna (see account of C. major).