African Wading Rat

discussion

Discussion: Study of external, cranial, and dental variation in context of taxonomic revision provided by Dieterlen (1983). Recent research by Rainer Hutterer and his colleagues (R. Hutterer, in litt., 1999) is uncovering a much greater range in morphological variation within and among geographic samples of Colomys than has been documented, which indicates the current definition of C. goslingi to be a composite of several separate species. Colomys goslingi is most commonly found along banks of small and shallow flowing streams and pools in tropical evergreen rainforests (Dieterlen, 1983; Hatt, 1940 a), but has also been taken along streams in grassland far from forest (Hayman, 1966). Hayman supposed Colomys to " be a relict forest form " and its survival in regions where forests have retreated or been cleared " may be due to its aquatic specialisation which enabled it to continue to exist wherever any permanent water with sufficient bordering vegetational cover may provide its basic requirements " (p. 36). The species is a carnivore preying on limnetic macroinvertebrates and small vertebrates, and possesses special morphological and neurological adaptations as well as behavioral re

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae

distribution

Distribution: Recorded from Liberia (Lofa), Cameroon, NE Angola, NW Zambia, Dem. Rep. Congo, Ruanda, Uganda, E Kenya, S Sudan, and W Ethiopia (range mostly abstracted from Dieterlen, 1983); limits unresolved.

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae

materials_examined

Type Locality: Dem. Rep. Congo, Orientale, Uele River, Gambi.

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae

discussion

COMMENTS: Study of external, cranial, and dental variation in context of taxonomic revision was provided by Dieterlen (1983). Colomys goslingi is a carnivore preying on limnetic macroinvertebrates and small vertebrates, and possesses special morphological and neurological adaptations as well as behavioral repitoire that are correlated with extracting such a diet from streams (Dieterlen and Statzner, 1981; Stephan and Dieterlen, 1982). The species is apparently restricted to banks of small flowing streams in tropical rain forest (Dieterlen, 1983), although it has been taken along streams in grassland far from forest (Hayman, 1966). Comparisons with Neotropical ichthyomyines provided by Voss (1988).

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae