Millardia Thomas 1911

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 : 1385

Millardia Thomas 1911

Millardia Thomas 1911 , J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 20: 998.

Type Species: Golunda meltada Gray 1837

Synonyms: Grypomys Thomas 1911 ; Guyia Thomas 1917 ; Millardomys Sody 1941 .

Species and subspecies: 4 species:

Species Millardia gleadowi (Murray 1885)

Species Millardia kathleenae Thomas 1914

Species Millardia kondana Mishra and Dhanda 1975

Species Millardia meltada ( Gray 1837)

Discussion: Millardia Division. Listed as a genus by Ellerman in 1941, but later as a subgenus of Rattus ( Ellerman, 1961) . By 1969, Millardia was again treated as a genus and thought to be closely related to the Indian Cremnomys ( Misonne, 1969) . Subsequent analyses of morphological features and particularly chromosomal traits have demonstrated the great phylogenetic distance between Rattus and Millardia ( Gadi and Sharma, 1983; Mishra and Dhandra, 1975; Raman and Sharma, 1977). Cytogenetic analyses resulted in a phylogenetic hypothesis isolating Millardia and Cremnomys from other Asian genera ( Gadi and Sharma, 1983), which is corroborated by analyses of mitochondrial sequences (DNA cytochrome b, 12S and 16S rRNA gene fragments), in which Ducroz et al. (2001:200) found no evidence of close relationship between Millardia and African arvicanthines (contradicting results from DNA/DNA hybridization; Chevret et al., 1994) or between Millardia and any murine genera tested; Millardia was basal in nearly all their phylogenetic reconstructions. This position is supported by albumin immunology suggesting that " Millardia appears to be a monogeneric clade arising early in the history of the murines" ( Watts and Baverstock, 1995 b). That ancient lineage also contains Cremnomys , Madromys , and probably Diomys , all Indian subcontinent endemics. An affinity with the African Praomys has been suggested ( Corbet and Hill, 1992; Misonne, 1969) but not substantiated by phylogenetic analyses of morphological or molecular traits (e. g., Lecompte, 2003). Agrawal (2000) characterized Millardia and reviewed its taxonomic history; also reviewed by Corbet and Hill (1992). Enamel microstructure of incisors and molars and its significance presented by Patnaik (2002).

Two species of Millardia , until 1982 thought to be strictly an Asian genus, were recorded from the late Pliocene of Ethiopia ( Sabatier, 1982). One of them was reidentified as an Acomys ( Denys, 1990 a) , identity of the other needs to be reevaluated, but to us its molar occlusal patterns also resemble those of Acomys . Outside of the supposed African record, evolutionary history of Millardia (identified as cf Millardia or M. cf. meltada ) is documented from early Pliocene to late Pleistocene strata only on the Indian subcontinent ( NW India and N Pakistan; Gupta and Prasad, 2001; Musser, 1987 b; Patnaik, 1995, 1997, 2001) .