Millardia meltada (Gray 1837)

[Golunda] meltada Gray 1837, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 1, 1: 586.

Type Locality: India, S Mahratta, Dharwar.

Vernacular Names: Common Metad.

Synonyms: Millardia comberi (Wroughton 1907); Millardia dunni Thomas 1917; Millardia lanuginosus (Elliot 1839); Millardia listoni (Wroughton 1907); Millardia mettada (Wroughton 1907); Millardia pallidior Ryley 1914; Millardia singuri Mandal and Ghosh 1981 .

Distribution: Sri Lanka; Indian Peninsula west to Gujarat and Rajasthan, north to Himachal Pradesh, and east to West Bengal; E Pakistan; and Terai region of Nepal (Agrawal, 2000, Chakraborty and Agrawal, 2000; Corbet and Hill, 1992; Ellerman, 1961; Rana, 1985).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Cytogenetics of this species is the subject of a substantial body of literature (Nanda and Raman, 1981; Raman and Sharma, 1977; Sobti and Gill, 1984; Yosida, 1978 a). Mandal and Ghosh (1981) described singuri as a subspecies of M. meltada . Subspecies formerly recognized in M. meltada (Ellerman, 1961) were based upon differences in fur coloration, but Agrawal (2000) noted the lack of significant geographic pattern in color variation as well as external and cranial dimensions among samples and treated the taxa as synonyms. Habitat and distribution on Abu Hill in the Aravalli Range in Rajasthan, India documented by Prakash et al. (1995 a, 1995 b), and in Gujarat State of NW India by Chakraborty and Agrawal (2000). Reviewed by Agrawal (2000).