Rhabdomys dilectus
Authors/Creators
Description
Rhabdomys dilectus (De Winton 1897)
[Rhabdomys] dilectus (De Winton 1897), Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1896: 803.
Type Locality: NE Zimbabwe, Mashonaland, Mazowe.
Vernacular Names: Mesic Four-striped Grass Rat.
Synonyms: Rhabdomys algoae Roberts 1946; Rhabdomys angolae (Wroughton 1905); Rhabdomys bethuliensis Roberts 1946; Rhabdomys chakae (Wroughton 1905); Rhabdomys cradockensis Roberts 1946; Rhabdomys diminutus (Thomas 1893); Rhabdomys griquoides Roberts 1946; Rhabdomys moshesh (Wroughton 1905); Rhabdomys nyasae (Wroughton 1905); Rhabdomys vaalensis Roberts 1946.
Distribution: E South Africa (Rambau et al., 2003), E Zimbabwe (Smithers and Wilson, 1979), WC Mozambique (Smithers and Lobao Tello, 1976), Malawi (Nyika Plateau and Mulanje Massif; Ansell and Dowsett, 1988), NE Zambia (Nyika Plateau; Ansell, 1978), SE Dem. Rep. Congo (Kasaki, Marungu Mtns, 2300 m; Hatt, 1940 b), highlands in Tanzania (Grimshaw et al., 1995; Shore and Garbett, 1991; Swynnerton and Hayman, 1951; Vesey-Fitzgerald, 1966), Kenya (Hollister, 1919), E Uganda (Mt. Elgon; Clausnitzer, 2001; Clausnitzer and Kityo, 2001; Delany, 1975), and S and C Angola (Crawford-Cabral, 1998; Hill and Carter, 1941); all referred to as P. pumilio except Rambau et al. (2003).
Conservation: algoae Roberts, 1946; angolae (Wroughton, 1905); bethuliensis Roberts, 1946; chakae (Wroughton, 1905); cradockensis Roberts, 1946; diminutus (Thomas, 1893); griquoides Roberts, 1946; moshesh (Wroughton, 1905); nyasae (Wroughton, 1905); vaalensis Roberts, 1946.
Discussion: Definition of R. dilectus generally follows Rambau et al. (2003), who sampled populations in South Africa, W Zimbabwe, Nyika Plateau in Malawi, and Mt. Elgon in Uganda. The species occurs in mesic grasslands and savannas in southern Africa (probably the more mesic of the six biotic zones of southern Africa in which Rhabdomys occurs; Yom-Tov, 1993) but north of that region (in SE Demo Rep. Congo, NE Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda) is restricted to disjunct montane savannas (e. g., Delany, 1975; Hollister, 1919; and other references cited above for regions north of South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique).
Two species occur in Angola. Rhabdomys pumilio occupies only the southwestern Namib desert of Angola (see account below); it is their sample from here that Carter and Hill (1941:102) identified as R. bechuanae. The other is represented by populations occurring over most of the Angolan Plateau. Rambau et al. (2003) did not sample Angola, but we assume these highland populations to represent R. dilectus. This afromontane distribution, an isolated population in Angola and isolated populations along highlands of East Africa, is concordant with the distributional pattern seen in Hylomyscus denniae (see account).
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Additional details
Identifiers
Related works
- Is part of
- Book chapter: 10.5281/zenodo.7316535 (DOI)
- Book chapter: http://publication.plazi.org/id/A2267A57FF8A65DA07E1D2E970F9422A (URL)
- Is source of
- https://biodiversitypmc.sibils.org/collections/plazi/6D52F61E1F1444B593436C22C4C0070E (URL)
- https://www.gbif.org/species/231539418 (URL)
Biodiversity
References
- Roberts, A. 1946. Descriptions of numerous new subspecies of mammals. Annals of the Transvaal Museum, 20: 303 - 328.
- Thomas, O. 1893. On some new Bornean mammalia. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, ser. 6, 11: 341 - 347.
- Rambau, R. V., T. J. Robinson, and R. Stanyon. 2003. Molecular genetics of Rhabdomys pumilio subspecies boundaries: mtDNA phylogeography and karyotypic analysis by fluorescence in situ hybridization. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 28: 564 - 575.
- Smithers, R. H. N., and V. J. Wilson. 1979. Checklist and atlas of the mammals of Zimbabwe Rhodesia. Museum Memoir, National Museums and Monuments of Rhodesia, Salisbury, 9: 1 - 193.
- Smithers, R. H. N., and J. L. P. Lobao Tello. 1976. Check list and atlas of the mammals of Mozambique. Museum Memoir, National Museums and Monuments of Rhodesia, Salisbury, 8: 1 - 184.
- Ansell, W. F. H., and R. J. Dowsett. 1988. Mammals of Malawi: An annotated check list and atlas. Trendrine Press, Zennor, St. Ives, United Kingdom, 170 pp.
- Ansell, W. F. H. 1978. The mammals of Zambia. National Parks and Wildlife Service, Chilanga, 126 pp.
- Hatt, R. T. 1940 b. Mammals collected by the Rockefeller-Murphy Expedition to Tanganyika Territory and the eastern Belgian Congo. American Museum Novitates, 1070: 1 - 8.
- Grimshaw, J., N. Cordeiro and C. Foley. 1995. The mammals of Kilimanjaro. Journal of East African Natural History, 84: 105 - 139.
- Shore, R. F., and S. D. Garbett. 1991. Notes on the small mammals of the Shira Plateau, Mt. Kilimanjaro. Mammalia, 55: 601 - 607.
- Swynnerton, G. H., and R. W. Hayman. 1951. A checklist of the land mammals of the Tanganyika Territory and the Zanzibar Protectorate. Journal of the East African Natural History Society, 20 (6): 274 - 392.
- Vesey-Fitzgerald, D. F. 1966. The habits and habitats of small rodents in the Congo River Catchment Region of Zambia and Tanzania. Zoologica Africana, 2 (1): 111 - 122.
- Hollister, N. 1919. East African mammals in the United States National Museum. Part II. Rodentia, Lagomorpha, and Tubulidentata. Bulletin of the United States National Museum, 99 (2): 1 - 184.
- Clausnitzer, V., and R. Kityo. 2001. Altitudinal distribution of rodents (Muridae and Gliridae) on Mt. Elgon, Uganda. Tropical Zoology, 14: 95 - 118.
- Delany, M. J. 1975. The rodents of Uganda. Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History), London, 165 pp.
- Crawford-Cabral, J. 1998. The Angolan rodents of the superfamily Muroidea: An account of their distribution. Instituto de Investigacao Cientifica Tropical, Estudos, Ensaios e Documentos, 161: 223 pp.
- Hill, J. E., and T. D. Carter. 1941. The mammals of Angola, Africa. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 78 (1): 1 - 211.
- Yom-Tov, Y. 1993. Size variation in Rhabdomys pumilio: A case of character release? Zeitschrift fur Saugetierkunde, 58: 48 - 53.