Jackson's Praomys

conservation

Conservation: IUCN – Data Deficient as P. jacksoni, P. montis, and P. peromyscus.

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae

discussion

Discussion: 2 n = 28, FN = 30 (Matthey, 1959). At one time listed as a subspecies of P. tullbergi (e. g., Hollister, 1919), jacksoni is a distinct species occurring sympatrically with P. tullbergi (G. M. Allen, 1939; Ansell, 1978; Van der Straeten and Dieterlen, 1987; Van der Straeten and Dudu, 1990; Lecompte et al., 2001). The problem of identifying the holotype of P. jacksoni, as well as current names associated with the species, was reviewed and discussed by Van der Straeten and Dieterlen (1987), Van der Straeten and Dudu (1990), and Van der Straeten and Kerbis Peterhans (1999). Van der Straeten and Dudu (1990) regarded montis and peromyscus as valid species and Van der Straeten and Kerbis Peterhans (1999) claimed that montis, peromyscus, sudanensis, and viator, all names that we place in synonymy, are separate species. The canonical analyses presented by those authors, however, employing series representing these taxa and other distinct species of Praomys (P. degraaffi and P. mutoni), do not indicate any significant separation between clusters identified as montis, peromyscus, sudanensis, and viator and topotypes of jacksoni. Praomys jacksoni as we list it here may be composite

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae

distribution

Distribution: C Nigeria through Cameroon and Central African Republic to S Sudan, Dem. Rep. Congo, NE Angola (Crawford-Cabral, 1998), Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, and southward through E Tanzania to N and E Zambia; the most expansive geographic range of any species in Praomys (Lecompte et al., 2001).

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae

discussion

COMMENTS: At one time listed as a subspecies of P. tullbergi (e. g., Hollister, 1919), jacksoni is a distinct species (Allen, 1939; Ansell, 1978; Van der Straeten and Dieterlen, 1987; Van der Straeten and Dudu, 1990) occurring sympatrically with P. tullbergi. The problem of identifying the holotype of jacksoni as well as current names associated with the species was reviewed and discussed by Van der Straeten and Dieterlen (1987) and Van der Straeten and Dudu (1990). The latter authors recognized montis and peromyscus as species; the P. jacksoni complex is probably composite, but until the forms representing potential species (viator, montis, peromyscus) have been diagnosed and their geographic ranges described we include them here under P. jacksoni. Van der Straeten and Dieterlen (1992) reported results from craniometrical camparisons among four samples of P. jacksoni collected at differnent altitudes (850 - 3300 m).

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae