Berylmys bowersi (Anderson 1879)

[Berylmys] bowersi (Anderson 1879), Anat. Zool. Res., Yunnan: 304.

Type Locality: China, Yunnan Province, Kakhyen Hills, Hotha, 4500 ft (1370 m).

Vernacular Names: Bower's Berylmys.

Synonyms: Berylmys ferreocanus (Miller 1900); Berylmys kennethi (Kloss 1919); Berylmys lactiiventer (Kloss 1919); Berylmys latouchei (Thomas 1897); Berylmys totipes (Dao 1966); Berylmys wellsi (Thomas 1921) .

Distribution: NE India (Agrawal, 2000), N and C Burma, S China (Yunnan, Guangxi, Fujiau, and S Anhui; Liu et al., 1985), N and peninsular Thailand, N Laos, Vietnam (Dang et al., 1994), Malay Peninsula, and NW Sumatra (Medan); see Musser and Newcomb (1983) and Corbet and Hill (1992).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Once relegated to Rattus in either subgenus Stenomys (Ellerman, 1947 a) or Bullimus (Misonne, 1969); see Musser and Newcomb (1983) for taxonomic history. Not known to occur on small islands off continental margin; B. bowersi is the only species of Berylmys found on Malay Peninsula and a large island of the Sunda Shelf (Sumatra). Spermatozoal morphology and its significance documented by Breed and Yong (1986). Feng et al. (1986) identified a sample from SE Xizang (Tibet, China) as B. bowersi (which was accepted by Wang, 2003) but whether it is that species or B. mackenziei is unclear. Wang (2003) and Zhang et al. (1997) described an expansive distribution for B. bowersi in S China but because they do not recognize B. mackenziei, which also occurs in the same region, it is unclear whether their records represent just B. bowersi or both species. Fossils recovered from early to late Pleistocene cave strata in the Sichuan-Guizhou region of S China were identified as B. bowersi (Zheng, 1993) .