Rattus losea Swinhoe 1870

Rattus losea Swinhoe 1870, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1870: 637.

Type Locality: Taiwan.

Vernacular Names: Losea Rat.

Synonyms: Rattus exiguus Howell 1927; Rattus sakeratensis Gyldenstolpe 1917 .

Distribution: Taiwan (M.-J. Yu, 1996), Pescadores Isls, S China (Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangxi, Guizhou, Chongqing, E Sichuan, S Shaanxi, Hainan Isl, Hong Kong; Wang, 2003), Vietnam (Dang et al., 1994), C and S Laos (Smith et al., In Press), Thailand (excluding peninsular Thailand; J. T. Marshall, Jr., 1977 a; Robinson et al., 1995), and S and SW Cambodia (specimens in FMNH and MNHN; A. Smith in litt., 2000); details of range reported by Musser and Newcomb (1985) and also based upon our study of other specimens not recorded in that report.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Rattus rattus species group. Known morphological, geographical, and altitudinal boundaries; correctly and incorrectly associated scientific names; and geographic variation reviewed by Musser and Newcomb (1985). They also suggested that R. losea is morphologically and probably phylogenetically closest to R. osgoodi from the highlands of S Vietnam and phylogenetically linked to R. argentiventer; see also Corbet and Hill (1992:341). Chromosomal contrasts between R. losea and three other species of Rattus from S Vietnam documented by Baskevich and Kuznetsov (1998). Karyotype from Taiwanese sample described by H.- T. Yu et al. (1996), who noted that the chromosomal complement is the same as that recorded for Thai samples except for differences in the X chromosome. Additional chromosomal data summarized by Rickart and Musser (1993). Adler (1995) documented habitat use on Taiwan.