Common Grammomys

discussion

Discussion: Number of scientific names reflects morphological and chromosomal variation correlated with geography and suggests more than one species is represented (Hutterer and Dieterlen, 1984; Meester et al., 1986); the complex requires careful revision. For example, specimens of true dolichurus from South Africa have duller pelage and more inflated bullae than animals from East and West Africa; should these prove to be diagnostic specific differences, the northern populations should be identified as G. surdaster. The Ethiopian records are based upon a specimen from Kefa (in USNM) and one documented by Duckworth et al. (1993), but not those recorded by Yalden et al. (1976), which represent other species (Hutterer and Dieterlen, 1984).

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae

distribution

Distribution: From Nigeria east to S Ethiopia; then south through N Dem. Rep. Congo, Uganda (Delany, 1975; Clausnitzer and Kityo, 2001, discussed distribution and habitat on Ugandan slopes of Mt Elgon), Kenya (Hollister, 1919), Tanzania (Swynnerton and Hayman, 1951; Grimshaw et al., 1995, distribution on Mt Kilimanjaro; Stanley et al., 2002, presence in Gonja Forest Reserve), and C and S Malawi (Ansell and Dowsett, 1988) to N and E South Africa (from Limpopo Province along coast through KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape provinces to Port Elizabeth; de Graaff, 1981, 1997 i; Taylor, 1998), E Zimbabwe, and Mozambique (Smithers and Lobao Tello, 1976); and west through Zambia (except in northeast on Nyika Plateau; Ansell, 1978) to Angola (Crawford-Cabral, 1998); limits of geographic range unresolved.

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae

discussion

COMMENTS: The number of scientific names reflects morphological and chromosomal variation correlated with geography that suggests more than one species is represented (Hutterer and Dieterlen, 1984; Meester et al., 1986); the complex requires careful revision. For example, specimens of true dolichurus from South Africa have duller pelage and more inflated bullae than animals from East and West Africa; should these prove to be diagnostic specific differences, the northern populations should be identified as G. surdaster. The Ethiopian locality is based on a specimen from Kefa (in the National Museum of Natural History) and not on those recorded by Yalden et al. (1976), which represent other species (see Hutterer and Dieterlen, 1984).

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae

distribution

DISTRIBUTION: From Nigeria east to SW Ethiopia, south through N Zaire, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and Malawi, and to South Africa (Natal and Cape Prov.), and west through Zimbabwe and Zambia to Angola; limits of geographic range unresolved.

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae