Order Rodentia - Family Muridae
Author
Guy G. Musser
Author
Michael D. Carleton
text
1993
Smithsonian Institution Press
Washington and London
Editor
Don E. Wilson
Editor
DeeAnn M. Reeder
Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition)
501
755
book chapter
http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7353098
1-56098-217-9
7353098
Grammomys rutilons
(Peters, 1876)
.
Monatsb. K. Preuss. Akad. Wiss.
Berlin
, p. 478
.
TYPE LOCALITY:
Gabon
, Limbareni
.
DISTRIBUTION: Tropical rain forest block and outlying patches: from
Guinea
(Mt Nimba) eastward through
Ivory Coast
,
Ghana
,
Togo
, S
Nigeria
to
Central African Republic
and
Zaire
, then south through
Cameroon
,
Equatorial Guinea
, and
Gabon
to N
Angola
. Also found on Bioko (=
Fernando Poo
) and in forest patches in W
Uganda
.
SYNONYMS:
centralis
,
kuru
,
poensis
.
COMMENTS: Usually considered a member of
Thamnomys
(
Allen, 1939
;
Ellerman, 1941
;
Hutterer and Dieterlen, 1984
), but external, cranial, and dental morphology is more similar to that characterizing species of
Grammomys
(where it was listed by D. H. S. Davis, 1965, and
Misonne, 1974
), and we include it within
Grammomys
pending critical systematic evaluation of samples now identified as
rutilans
.
The form
kuru
,
treated here and by D. H. S. Davis (1965) as a synonym of G.
rutilans
,
is sometimes listed as a species (e.g.,
Ellerman, 1941
), but with provisions (
Hatt, 1940a
;
Hutterer and Dieterlen, 1984
;
Thomas, 1915
); our study of the
holotype
revealed it is a very young adult
rutilans
.
Tranier and Dosso (1979)
reported 2N=36 for an individual captured in
Ivory Coast
; this contrasts with 2N=50 usually recorded for G.
rutilans
(
Matthey, 1963
)
and either signals exceptional chromosomal variation within
rutilans
or the presence of a morphologically undetected species.