Rattus montanus Phillips 1932

Rattus montanus Phillips 1932, Ceylon J. Sci., Sec. B, 16: 323.

Type Locality: Sri Lanka (Ceylon), West Haputale, Ohiya, 6000 ft (1830 m).

Vernacular Names: Sri Lankan Mountain Rat.

Distribution: Known only from the type locality, Horton Plains at 2135 m, and Nuwara Eliya at 1830 m in primary montane forests of Central and Uva Provinces of Sri Lanka (Phillips, 1980).

Conservation: IUCN – Critically Endangered.

Discussion: Rattus species group unresolved. A montane endemic on Sri Lanka and morphologically so unlike other species of Rattus that it should probably be removed from the genus, despite McKay’s (1984) assertion that it is nothing more than a large form of R. rattus (see Musser, 1986:22, and Corbet and Hill, 1991:346). Like R. annandalei, R. hoogerwerfi, R. korinchi, R. macleari, R. nativitatis, and members of the R. xanthurus group, the Ceylon endemic seems isolated within the morphological boundaries of Rattus as presently understood (Musser, 1986).