Niviventer confucianus (Milne-Edwards, 1871) . Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, 7, Bull.:93.

TYPE LOCALITY: China, Szechwan, Moupin .

DISTRIBUTION: N Burma, N Thailand, and highlands of China north to Jilin Prov.; limits uncertain.

SYNONYMS: canorus, chihliensis, elegans, littoreus, luticolor, mentosus, naoniuensis, sacer, sinianus, yaoshanensis, yushuensis, zappeyi .

COMMENTS: Wang and Zheng (1981) reported results from a systematic study under the name of Rattus niviventer, and described yushuensis as a subspecies. Zhang and Zhao (1984) proposed naoniuensis as a subspecies. Usually included in N. niviventer, but that allocation is not supported by present evidence (Abe, 1983; Musser, 1981b). Geographic and elevational relationships between northern N. confucianus and southern N. fulvescens, especially in W and S China, needs to be resolved by careful taxonomic revision.