Order Rodentia - Family Muridae
Author
Wilson, Don E.
Author
Reeder, DeeAnn
text
2005
The Johns Hopkins University Press
Baltimore
Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 2
1189
1531
book chapter
0-8018-8221-4
10.5281/zenodo.7316535
Rattus montanus
Phillips 1932
Rattus montanus
Phillips 1932
,
Ceylon
J. Sci., Sec. B, 16: 323
.
Type Locality:
Sri Lanka
(
Ceylon
), West Haputale, Ohiya,
6000 ft
(
1830 m
).
Vernacular Names:
Sri
Lankan Mountain Rat
.
Distribution:
Known only from the type locality, Horton Plains at
2135 m
, and Nuwara Eliya at
1830
m in
primary montane forests of Central and
Uva
Provinces of
Sri Lanka
(
Phillips, 1980
).
Conservation:
IUCN
– Critically Endangered.
Discussion:
Rattus
species
group unresolved. A montane endemic on
Sri Lanka
and morphologically so unlike other species of
Rattus
that it should probably be removed from the genus, despite McKay’s (1984) assertion that it is nothing more than a large form of
R. rattus
(see Musser, 1986:22, and
Corbet and Hill, 1991:346
). Like
R. annandalei
,
R. hoogerwerfi
,
R. korinchi
,
R. macleari
,
R. nativitatis
, and members of the
R. xanthurus
group, the
Ceylon
endemic seems isolated within the morphological boundaries of
Rattus
as presently understood (Musser, 1986).