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Rattus  (sensu stricto) is one of the groups of rodents and is most closely related to human activities. The diversity of extant  Rattus  species is the highest among rodents, but fossil species are rare, mainly found in Asia during the Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene. Here, we described a Late Pliocene new species of  Rattus  based on material from the upper Yangyi Formation in Baoshan county, Yunnan Province, China. The primitive morphological characteristics of fewer molar roots, t12 preserved on M1 – 2, t9 preserved on M3, and buccal stylids well developed on lower molars indicate that the new  Rattus  is by far the most primitive form in the  Rattus  genus. In dental morphology of  Rattus , the molars have an evolutionary trend of gradually increasing the number of roots and fusing cusps into an arched ridge, reduction to disappearance of the t7 and t12 on upper molars, and reduction to disappearance of the mesiocentral cusp on m1, the anterior buccal stylid on m1–3 and hypoconid on m3. Discovery of the new  Rattus  from Baoshan confirms that  Rattus  probably originated in southern Asia before the Late Pliocene, and also provides new fossil evidence to calibrate the molecular clock of the divergence of  Rattus  from other murines. In addition, we also reported five associated small mammals:  Neotetracus  sp. nov.,  Anourosorex qianensis , Soricidae gen. et sp. indet.,  Ia io , and  Kowalskia  sp. Most of them inhabit warm and humid tropical or subtropical montane forests or shrubland environments. The composition of this mammalian assemblage indicates that the paleoelevation and paleoclimate of Baoshan area in the Pliocene are very similar to those of the present.

A new Rattus species and its associated micromammals from the Pliocene Yangyi Formation in Baoshan, western Yunnan, China