West Chinese white-toothed rat

The West Chinese white-toothed rat (Berylmys latouchei) is a large rodent of the family Muridae and the genus Berylmys, living in eastern China. O. Thomas described it in 1897 as Mus latouchei from specimens collected at Kuatun in northwest Fujian, but later authors treated it as a junior synonym of Bower's white-toothed rat (Berylmys bowersii). A 2023 study by Xu and colleagues, using mitochondrial and nuclear genes together with body and skull measurements, found the traditional Berylmys bowersii to be a species complex and recognised Berylmys latouchei as a valid species, distinguished by its larger size, larger and whiter hind feet and several skull traits. The authors estimate the split from Bower's white-toothed rat at about two million years ago, in the early Pleistocene, and identify the Wuyi Mountains of northern Fujian as a glacial refuge. The species is known from northern Fujian, southern Zhejiang and southwest Anhui, with the Dabie Mountains in western Anhui forming its northern limit. Specimens average about 223 millimetres in head and body length, and females have eight mammae. Mammal Diversity Database lists it as a living species with an IUCN status of Least Concern.