Vernaya fulva (G. M. Allen 1927)

[Vernaya] fulva (G. M. Allen 1927), Am. Mus . Novit., 270: 11.

Type Locality: China, Yunnan, Yinpankai, Mekong River.

Vernacular Names: Vernay's Climbing Mouse.

Synonyms: Vernaya foramena Wang, Hu, and Chen 1980 .

Distribution: S China (N Sichuan, W Yunnan, S Gansu, and SW Shaanxi; Li and Wang, 1995) and N Burma (Anthony, 1941); recorded only above 2135 m.

Conservation: IUCN – Vulnerable.

Discussion: Originally described by G. M. Allen as a species of Chiropodomys, but later reidentified by him as the only example of Vandeleuria dumeticola known from Yunnan (G. M. Allen, 1940), which was refuted by Ellerman (1949). Anthony (1941) correctly pointed out the morphological uniqueness of fulva by erecting a new genus to contain it. Still known only by few specimens. Wang et al. (1980) described foramena as a species of Vernaya, but diagnostic traits simply represent individual and geographic variation found in V. fulva (Corbet and Hill, 1992; Li and Wang, 1995; and Musser’s study of the Chinese material described by Wang et al., 1980); Wang (2003) listed foramena as a synonym of V. fulva in his checklist of Chinese mammals.