Niviventer culturatus (Thomas 1917)

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 : 1420

Niviventer culturatus (Thomas 1917)

[Niviventer] culturatus (Thomas 1917) , Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, 20: 198.

Type Locality: Taiwan, Mt Arizan, 8000 ft (2440 m).

Vernacular Names: Soft-furred Taiwan Niviventer.

Distribution: Endemic to highlands of Taiwan, 2000-3000 m (H.- T. Yu, 1994; M.-J. Yu, 1996).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (nt).

Discussion: Historically listed as a species ( Ellerman, 1941), a subspecies of N. niviventer ( Ellerman, 1961; Ellerman and Morrison-Scott, 1951; Wang and Zheng, 1981), or included in N. confucianus ( Musser, 1981 b; Corbet and Hill, 1992). Niviventer culturatus is a distinctive insular form that in morphology superficially resembles mainland N. confucianus , but differs sufficiently that it should be treated as a species, as revealed by multivariate analysis of morphometric traits by Musser and Lunde (ms), which also clusters N. culturatus with the Javan N. lepturus, Chinese N. andersoni and N. excelsior , and Burmese N. brahma , but not with N. confucianus . Analyses of mitochondrial cytochrome b sequences also highlights the specific integrity of N. culturatus but places it with N. confucianus , N. coninga , and N. tenaster in a monophyletic clade (J. L. Patton, in litt., 2000; N. langbianis and N. fulvescens were the only other Niviventer sampled). Chromosomal data documented by H.- T. Yu et al. (1996) and compared with karyotype of N. coninga (see account of that species). Ecology, distribution and abundance along an elevational gradient, and genetic population structure documented by H.- T. Yu (1993, 1994, 1995); microhabitat use reported by Adler (1996).