470.

Typical Striped Grass Mouse

Lemniscomys striatus

French: Rat-rayé d'Afrique / German: Eigentliche Streifengrasmaus / Spanish: Raton de hierba listado tipico

Other common names: Striated Lemniscomys

Taxonomy. Mus striatus Linnaeus, 1758, “India.”

Corrected by O. Thomas in 1911 to “Sierra Leone,” West Africa.

Recent

phylogeographic

studies suggest that L. striatus as presently constituted contains at least four lineages which may constitute cryptic species within a species complex. Some of these entities correspond roughly with geographical limits of five subspecies proposed by E. Van der Straeten and W. N. Verheyen in 1980. Further research required. Distribution. Widespread in tropical Africa in Guinea-Bissau and from Sierra Leone and Guinea E to S South Sudan and W Kenya, and S to N Angola, S DR Congo, NE Zambia, SW Tanzania, and extreme N Malawi; isolated populations occur in SW Sudan

and

SW

Ethiopia

. Descriptive notes. Head—body 97139 mm, tail 96-153 mm, ear 12-21 mm, hindfoot

22-29 mm; weight

28

-67

g

. Fur

of

the

Typical

Striped

Grass

Mouse

is

coarse

and brown above, often flecked with ocher, contrasting with white below. Single well-marked

black

mid-dorsal

stripe

extends

from

neck to

base

of tail

, and

each

of fourlateral pale yellow stripes on flank is broken into spots; additional spots occur below, not arranged in lines. Ears are large, rounded, and covered with short rufous hairs. Eye-ring is rufous. Tail is long (c.125% of head-body length), dark above, pale below, sparsely haired. Forefeet have three functional digits. Females have 2+2 = 4 pairs of nipples. Chromosomal complement has 2n = 44, FN = 68-74 (West Africa).

Habitat. Variety of grasslands with good grass cover, as well as agricultural areas. Often trapped on forest edges or clearings in forest, but neverin forest itself. Food and Feeding. Typical Striped Grass Mice eat grass stems and inflorescences, fruits, leaves, and seeds. Breeding. Breeding is seasonal and linked to rainfall. Where rain occurs in all months (e.g. Uganda), there are two breeding periods annually and females can have 1-3 litters per year. Gestation lasts 23 days. Littersize is 2-8. Activity patterns. Typical Striped Grass Mice are terrestrial and crepuscular, with some nocturnal activity around midnight. Population cycles are strongly controlled by annual early-ssummerfires in grasslands. Movements, Home range and Social organization. Typical Striped Grass Mice build nests of shredded grass on ground surface in dense vegetation. Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. Bibliography. Cheeseman & Delany (1979), Happold (2013a), Monadjem etal. (2015), Neal (1970, 1977), Nicolas, Mboumba et al. (2008), Thomas (1911c¢), Van der Straeten & Verheyen (1980).

471. Heuglin’s Striped Grass Mouse Lemniscomys zebra French: Rat-rayé de Heuglin / German: Heuglin-Streifengrasmaus / Spanish: Raton de hierba listado de Heuglin Other common names: Heuglin's Lemniscomys, Zebra Grass Mouse, Zebra Lemniscomys Taxonomy. Mus zebra Heuglin, 1864, Bahr el Ghazal, South Sudan. Lemniscomys zebra was previously included within L. barbarus, but M. D. Carleton and E. Van der Straeten in 1997 demonstrated that the two species can be distinguished morphometrically. Poorly defined L. hoogstraali may be conspecific with L. zebra. Monotypic. Distribution. Widespread in arid Sahelo-Sudanian savannas from Senegal E to Eritrea, extending into much of E Africa S to S Tanzania. Descriptive notes. Head—body 96-119 mm, tail 110-133 mm, ear 13-16 mm, hindfoot 22-27 mm; weight 24-60 g. Heuglin’s Striped Grass Mouse has coarse fur yellowish brown to brown above, contrasting with white below. Single black mid-dorsal stripe extends from neck to base oftail, and there are 67 unbroken yellowish or cream stripes on each flank. Ears are large, rounded, and covered with short rufous hairs. Tail is long (c.1 10% of head— body length), dark above, pale below, sparsely haired. Forefeet have three functional digits. Females have 2+2 = 4 pairs of nipples. Chromosomal complement has 2n = 54, FN = 58. Habitat. Drier grasslands and woodland savannas with adequate cover of grass, herbs, or bushes. Food and Feeding. No information. Breeding. No information. Activity patterns. Heuglin’s Striped Grass Mice are terrestrial and crepuscular. Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information. Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. Bibliography. Carleton & Van der Straeten (1997), Happold (2013a), Monadjem et al. (2015), Rosevear (1969).

472. Bellier’s Striped Grass Mouse Lemniscomys bellier: French: Rat-rayé de Bellier / German: BellierStreifengrasmaus / Spanish: Ratén de hierba listado de Bellier Other common names: Bellier's Lemniscomys Taxonomy. Lemniscomys belliert Van der Straeten, 1975, Ayeremou (= Lamto), Ivory Coast. Lemniscomys bellieri, previously included in L. striatus, was elevated to species rank on basis of its unbroken lower lateral stripes (broken into spots in L. striatus) combined with chromosomal and moleculargenetic differences. It is genetically close to (cytochrome-b divergence 3-3%) and shares chromosomal and morphological characters with L. macculus, and the two may be conspecific. Monotypic.

Distribution. W of the Dahomey Gap in W Africa, from Guinea and Sierra Leone to extreme S Burkina Faso and NW Ghana.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 91-127 mm,tail 94-134 mm, ear 13-19 mm, hindfoot 23-27 mm; weight 26-46 g. Bellier’s Striped Grass Mouse has fur buffy brown above contrasting with pure white below, with narrow dark mid-dorsal stripe, and eight pale

buffy lateral stripes on each flank (some broken into spots). Tail is long (c.100% of head-body length), dark brown above and whitish below, sparsely haired and ringed with scales. Feet are buffy-colored, forefeet with threefunctional digits, first digit vestigial and fifth digit highly reduced (with nail instead of claw). Females have 2+2 = 4 pairs of nipples. Chromosomal complement has 2n = 56.

Habitat. Grasslands in moist savannas, avoiding forests and forest edges.

Food and Feeding. Bellier’s Striped Grass Mouse is mostly or exclusively herbivorous, feeding close to burrows.

Breeding. No information.

Activity patterns. Bellier’s Striped Grass Mouseis terrestrial, and nocturnal and crepuscular, with activity peaks before sunrise, after sunset, and in middle of night.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List.

Bibliography. Bernard (1969), Chéneti & Sani (1989), Ducroz et al. (2001), Happold (2013a), Monadjem etal. (2015), Van der Straeten (1975), Van der Straeten & Verheyen (1978a).