Mus (Pyromys) platythrix Bennett 1832

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Rodentia - Family Muridae, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 2, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 1189-1531 : 1406

Mus (Pyromys) platythrix Bennett 1832

Mus (Pyromys) platythrix Bennett 1832 , Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1832: 121.

Type Locality: Peninsular India, Dukhun (=Deccan).

Vernacular Names: Flat-haired Mouse.

Synonyms: Mus (Pyromys) bahadur (Wroughton and Ryley 1913) ; Mus (Pyromys) grahami (Ryley 1913) ; Mus (Pyromys) hannyngtoni (Ryley 1913) .

Distribution: Peninsular India north to West Bengal ( Agrawal, 2000; Corbet and Hill, 1992).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Subgenus Pyromys . Close relationship with M. saxicola , also in subgenus Coelomys , substantiated by analyses of DNA/DNA hybridization and mitochondrial 12S rRNA sequences, but not morphological traits ( Chevret et al., 2003). May be more than one species within present definition of M. platythrix . Samples from the northwest have 2n = 30, those from S India have 2n = 26, but "the limits of these forms and any correlation with morphological characters have not been defined" ( Corbet and Hill, 1992:330). Another Indian endemic revised by J. T. Marshall, Jr. (1977 b) and reviewed by Agrawal (2000). Occurrence and ecology in the Aravalli ranges of Rajasthan State documented by Prakash et al. (1995 a, b, c), and in the Western Ghats of S India by Chandrasekar-Rao and Sunquist (1996). Roberts (1977, 1997) reported M. platythrix from S Pakistan, but that record probably represents M. saxicola , which occurs in India and S Pakistan ( Corbet and Hill, 1992:328).