Order Rodentia - Family Spalacidae
Author
Wilson, Don E.
Author
Reeder, DeeAnn
text
2005
The Johns Hopkins University Press
Baltimore
Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 2
907
926
book chapter
0-8018-8221-4
10.5281/zenodo.7316535
Tachyoryctes macrocephalus
Rüppell 1842
Tachyoryctes macrocephalus
Rüppell 1842
,
Mus
. Senckenberg., 3: 97
.
Type Locality:
Ethiopia
, Shoa.
Vernacular Names:
Ethiopian African Mole Rat
.
Synonyms:
Tachyoryctes hecki
Neumann and Rümmler 1928
.
Distribution:
Ethiopia
; endemic to high southern plateau,
3000-4150 m
(
Rupp, 1980
;
Yalden and Largen, 1992
;
Yalden et al., 1996
).
Conservation:
IUCN
– Lower Risk (lc).
Discussion:
Inhabitant of Afro-alpine moorland and grassland, which the species shares with the other Ethiopian endemics
Stenocephalemys albocaudata
,
Lophuromys melanonyx
, and
Arvicanthis blicki
(
Yalden, 1988
)
. The congenor
T. splendens
ranges from below
1000 m
to about
3000 m
, where it apparently overlaps the lower altitudinal distribution of
T. macrocephalus
(
Rupp, 1980
;
Yalden et al., 1976
).
Yalden (1975)
provided ecological observations for
T. macrocephalus
and morphologically contrasted it with
T. splendens
. Habitat selection and daily activity patterns in relation to the endangered Ethiopian wolf (
Canis simensis
) recorded by
Sillero-Zubiri et al. (1995
b
)
. See
Yalden (1985
, Mammalian Species, 237).