New record of the Oriental house rat, , in Nepal inferred from mitochondrial gene sequences.

This study determines the presence of . from in Nepal using morphological and molecular analyses. Morphologically, it is indistinguishable with owing to similar fur colour and morphometric data. However, molecular identification and phylogenetic analysis using sequences of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) () gene revealed two different species . and . from collected specimens. The genetic distance between . and . was found 0.043. In phylogenetic tree, the clade of . is distinguished into two sub-clades, . found in Nepal, and East Asian countries, China, Laos, Thailand, Viet Nam, and South Korea have genetic distance 0.031, suggesting the different lineages of . . This study confirmed the . present in Nepal. Our findings suggest that morphological analysis and molecular study should be carried out simultaneously for accurate identification of small sized cryptic mammals like . and . .