Rattus losea (Swinhoe, 1871)

Guy G. Musser & Michael D. Carleton, 1993, Order Rodentia - Family Muridae, Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition), Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 501-755 : 654

Rattus losea (Swinhoe, 1871) . Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1870:637 (1871).

TYPE LOCALITY: Taiwan .

DISTRIBUTION: Recorded from Taiwan, Pescadores Isis, S China (Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangxi, Hainan Isl), C Vietnam, S Laos, and Thailand (excluding peninsular Thailand); probably will also be found in Cambodia, N Laos and Vietnam, and parts of Burma borderingThailand ( Musser and Newcomb, 1985).

SYNONYMS: exiguus , sakeratensis .

COMMENTS: Known morphological, geographical, and altitudinal boundaries; correctly and incorrectly assoicated scientific names; and geographic variation reviewed by Musser and Newcomb (1985). They also suggested that R. losea is morphologically and probably phylogenetically nearer R. osgoodi from the highlands of S Vietnam than any other species of Rattus , and speculated that R. losea is also phylogenetically linked to R. argentiventer .