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SPECIES Sundamys muelleri

Author:Jentink, 1879.
Citation:Notes Leyden Mus., 2: 16.
Common Name:Müller’s Sundamys
Type Locality:Indonesia, W Sumatra, Batang Singgalang, Padang Highlands.
Distribution:Endemic to large and small islands and penninsula on the Sunda Shelf south of the Isthmus of Kra (10E30' N): SW peninsular Burma, peninsular Thailand, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, and Palawan; and on the smaller islands of Siantan (Anamba Isl), many of the Riau Isls, Tuangku and Bangkuru (Banjak Isls), Mansalar (W Sumatra), Pinie, Tanahmasa and Tanahbala (Batu Isls), Banka, Bunguan and Serasan (Natuna Isls), Karimata Isl (SW Borneo), Sebuku (SE Borneo), Balembangan and Banggi (N Borneo), and Balabac, Culion, and Busuanga (Palawan Faunal Region). Older published records from islands off Sunda Shelf (Nicobars, for example) proved to represent other species (all but the Karimata records are documented in the gazetteer and range maps in Musser and Newcomb, 1983; specimens in UMMZ and MZB were obtained on Karimata Isl by A. J. Gorog in 2000). Does not occur on Java.
Status:IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).
Comments:

Morphological, chromosomal, and spermatozoal data suggested S. muelleri is a distant relative of Rattus but in the same monophyletic clade (Breed and Yong, 1986; Musser and Newcomb, 1983; Watts and Baverstock, 1994b). Like Maxomys surifer, which also has an extensive insular distribution on the Sunda Shelf (see that account), nearly every island sample of S. muelleri was described as a separate subspecies, some based on real differences in pelage coloration and body size, others diagnosed primarily by their insular distribution (see history in Musser and Newcomb, 1983). There are detectable differences among some samples. Populations from SW Burma, Peninsular Thailand, and the Malay Peninsula, for example, are significantly larger in body size than those from elsewhere on the Sunda Shelf and may be a separate species (Musser and Newcomb, 1983). Phylogenetic analyses of gene sequences from insular and peninsular samples of S. muelleri may illuminate significance and historical origin of the documented morphological variation.

Occurrence of S. muelleri on peninsular Mt Santubong in W Sarawak recorded by Tuen et al. (2000), and its distribution and ecology on the small islands off the tip of N Sabah documented by Md Nor (1996). Generally a lowland species, S. muelleri reaches 1650 m on slopes of Mt Kinabalu in Sabah (Md Nor, 2001, and citations therein).

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Offspring:

Synonyms:

    balabagensis (Sanborn, 1952)
    balmasus (Lyon, 1916)
    borneanus (Miller, 1913)
    campus (Robinson and Kloss, 1916)
    chombolis (Lyon, 1909)
    crassus (Lyon, 1911)
    credulus (Chasen, 1940)
    culionensis (Sanborn, 1952)
    domitor (Miller, 1903)
    firmus (Miller, 1902)
    foederis (Robinson and Kloss, 1911)
    integer (Miller, 1901)
    otiosus (Chasen, 1935)
    pinatus (Lyon, 1916)
    pollens (Miller, 1913)
    potens (Miller, 1913)
    sebucus (Lyon, 1911)
    terempa (Chasen and Kloss, 1928)
    valens (Miller, 1913)
    validus (Miller, 1900)
    victor (Miller, 1913)
    virtus (Lyon, 1916)
    waringensis (Sody, 1941)

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