Order Rodentia - Family Muridae 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 1189 1531 book chapter 0-8018-8221-4 10.5281/zenodo.7316535 Acomys (Acomys) wilsoni Thomas 1892 Acomys (Acomys) wilsoni Thomas 1892 , Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 6, 10: 22 . Type Locality: Kenya , Mombasa . Vernacular Names: Wilson's Spiny mouse . Synonyms: Acomys (Acomys) ablutus Dollman 1911 ; Acomys (Acomys) argillaceus Hinton and Kershaw 1920 ; Acomys (Acomys) boronei De Beaux 1934 ; Acomys (Acomys) enid St. Leger 1932 ; Acomys (Acomys) nubilus Dollman 1914 . Distribution: S Sudan , S Ethiopia , S Somalia , Uganda , Kenya , and south to EC Tanzania (Kondoa; specimens in AMNH ); see Bates (1994); limits unknown. Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc). Discussion: Subgenus Acomys . Formerly included in A. subspinosus by Setzer (1975) but considered a species by most systematists ( Corbet and Hill, 1991 ; Ellerman, 1941 ; Hollister, 1919 ; Matthey, 1968 ; Musser and Carleton, 1993 ; F. Petter, 1983 ; F. Petter and Roche, 1981 ; Rupp, 1980 ; Yalden et al., 1976 ). Genetically most similar to A. percivali ( Janecek et al., 1991 ) with which it occurs sympatrically ( Neal, 1983 , for example, studied the breeding patterns in both species from the same locality in C Kenya ); Denys et al. (1994) noted a close similarity in molar patterns between the two species. Specimens of nubilus are larger and longer-tailed than wilsoni and may represent a separate species; de Beaux's (1934) description of boronei recalls nubilus . Those two names possibly represent the closely related A. percivali , which has a longer tail relative to head and body length than does A. wilsoni . The need to revise the A. wilsoni-A. percivali species complex was stressed by Denys et al. (1994) . Matthey (1968) documented chromosomal traits (2n = 50). Our study of specimens indicates A. wilsoni (and A. percivali ) to be very different from species in the A. cahirinus-A. dimidiatus group, and all other species of Acomys , a conclusion reinforced by phylogenetic analyses of mtDNA cytochrome b gene sequences among species of Acomys ( Barome et al., 2000 ) .