A survey of small mammals in the Volta Region of Ghana with comments on zoogeography and conservation Author Decher, Jan Mammal Section, Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig, Adenauerallee 160, 53113 Bonn (Germany) and Department of Biology, University of Vermont. Burlington, Vermont 05405 (USA) j. decher @ leibniz-zfmk. de Author Norris, Ryan W. Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University at Lima, Lima, OH 45804 (USA) ryanwnorris @ gmail. com ryanwnorris@gmail.com Author Abedi-Lartey, Michael Golden Veroleum (Liberia) Inc., Monrovia Office: Unit 102, Wazni Building, 13 th Street and Tubman Boulevard, Sinkor, Monrovia (Liberia) Author Oppong, James Wildlife Division, Forestry Commission, P. O. Box M 239, Accra (Ghana) Author Hutterer, Rainer Mammal Section, Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig, Adenauerallee 160, 53113 Bonn (Germany) Author Weinbrenner, Martin Philosophenweg 12, 77654 Offenburg (Germany) Author Koch, Martin Department of Biogeography, University of Trier, Universitätsring 15, D- 54296 Trier (Germany) Author Podsiadlowski, Lars Mammal Section, Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig, Adenauerallee 160, 53113 Bonn (Germany) Author Kilpatrick, C. William Department of Biology, University of Vermont. Burlington, Vermont 05405 (USA) wkilpatr @ uvm. edu wkilpatr@uvm.edu text Zoosystema 2021 2021-05-20 43 14 253 281 journal article 6523 10.5252/zoosystema2021v43a14 b1eb9973-f581-4a60-9c87-68b7ae4b3591 1638-9387 4783781 urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:7008A933-FE5E-405E-BBAD-8C06D2A8807D Stochomys longicaudatus ( Tullberg, 1893 ) Dasymys longicaudatus Tullberg, 1893: 36 . COMMON NAME. — Target Rat. MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Apesokubi • 1 ♀ ; 4.5 km N Apesokubi ; USNM 590072 ; Sherman trap ; 27.XI.1999 . REMARK Initially identified as Dephomys defua (Miller, 1900) we recently re-identified this specimen as Stochomys longicaudatus using molecular methods as part of another study (Pradhan et al. in prep; GenBank MT311314 ). Robbins & Van der Straeten (1996) previously stated that D. defua occurs only west of the Volta River. East of the Volta and in the Dahomey Gap it is replaced by the lower Guinean species S. longicaudatus . Van der Straeten (1984) lists 15 specimens from Dzogbégan, Misahohé and Palimé in Togo . There is also one specimen from Agou, Togo at the USNM (USNM 438334). Based on Grubb et al. (1998) and the latest monograph of this species ( Uebbing 2019 ), our specimen appears to be the first capture of S. longicaudatus from Ghana . CONSERVATION STATUS. — Stochomys longicaudatus is listed as “Least Concern” on the IUCN Red List, but, being mostly a forest species with a preference for dense understory vegetation close to water ( Uebbing 2019 ), it should be highly sensitive to further deforestation and bush fires in the Volta Region .