Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 2196 No. 1: 13 Aug. 2009
Type: Articles
Published: 2009-08-13
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.2196.1.4
Page range: 48–58
Abstract views: 51
PDF downloaded: 1

Geographic variation of the Anderson’s Niviventer (Niviventer andersoni) (Thomas, 1911) (Rodentia: Muridae) of two new subspecies in China verified with cranial morphometric variables and pelage characteristics

Kunming Institute of Zoology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 32 Jiaochang Donglu, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, China
Kunming Institute of Zoology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 32 Jiaochang Donglu, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, China
Rodentia Geographic variation New subspecies Numerical analysis Niviventer andersoni Morphometry

Abstract

A total of 66 specimens of Niviventer andersoni with intact skulls was investigated on pelage characteristics and cranial morphometric variables. The data were subjected to principal component analyses as well as to discriminant analyses, and measurement overlap was studied as compared with the coefficient of difference. The results indicate that three subspecies of N. andersoni can be recognized in China, including N. a. andersoni broadly distributed from northwestern Yunnan, Sichuan, northward to southern Shaanxi, and eastward to Hubei, N. a. pianmaensis subsp. nov. in western Yunnan, and N. a. ailaoshanensis subsp. nov. in Mt. Ailaoshan, central Yunnan province. Our study for the first time validates its subspecies differentiation that is most likely related to intra-specific geographic variation. In addition, a taxonomic revision of Niviventer andersoni in China is described.

References

  1. Allen, G.M. (1940) The Mammals of China and Mongolia. Natural History of Central Asia. Vol. XI, Part 2. The American Museum of Natural History, New York.

    Corbet, G.B. & Hill, J.E. (1992) The Mammals of the Indomalayan Region: A Systematic Review. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.

    Ellerman, J.R. (1941) The Families and Genera of Living Rodents. Vol. II. Oxford Univ. Press.

    Ellerman, J.R. & Morrison-Scott, T.C.S. (1951) Checklist of Palaearctic and Indian Mammals 1758 to 1946. London: British Museum (Natural History).

    Mayr, E. (1969) Principles of systematic zoology. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.

    Musser, G.G. (1981) Results of the Archbold Expeditions. No. 105. Notes on systematics of Indo-Malayan murid rodents, and descriptions of new genera and species from Ceylon, Sulawesi, and the Philippines. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 168, 225–334.

    Musser, G.G. & Chiu, S. (1979) Notes on taxonomy of Rattus andersoni and R. excelsior, murids endemic to Western China. Journal of Mammalogy, 60, 581– 592.

    Musser, G.G. & Carleton, M.D. (2005) Family Muridae. In Mammal species of the world: taxonomic and geographic reference, 3nd ed. Edited by D.E. Wilson & D.M. Reeder. The Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Ride, W.D.L. (Chairman of Editorial Committee). (1999) International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. 4th Edition. Published by the International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature.

    Sun, H.L.[ed.]. (1996) Formation and Evolution of QingHai-Xizang plateau. Shanghai China: Shanghai Science & Technology Press. (In Chinese)

    Wang, Y.X. (2003) A complete checklist of mammal species and subspecies in China, a taxonomic and geographic reference. Beijing, China: China Forestry Publishing House.

    Zhang, Y.Z., Jin, S.K., Quan, G.Q., Li, S.H., Ye, Z.Y., Wang, F.G. & Zhang, M.L. (1997) Distribution of mammalian species in China. Beijing: China Forestry Publishing House.