Dasymys nudipes (Peters 1870)

[Dasymys] nudipes (Peters 1870), J. Sci. Math. Phys. Nat. Lisboa, ser. 1, 3: 126.

Type Locality: Angola, Humpata, 15°01’S, 13°21’E (based on neotype designated by W. Verheyen et al., 2003:38).

Vernacular Names: Angolan Dasymys.

Distribution: Apparently endemic to the Angolan Plateau (Huambo highlands) in WC Angola (the range in WC Angola, not that indicated in SE Angola, mapped by Crawford-Cabral, 1998:154); see W. Verheyen et al. (2003).

Conservation: IUCN – Data Deficient.

Discussion: Treated by G. M. Allen (1939), Hill and Carter (1941), and Roberts (1951) as a species, but included in D. incomtus by Ellerman (1941) and most later writers of lists (for example, Ansell, 1978; Meester et al., 1986; Misonne, 1974). Crawford-Cabral (1983) recorded sympatry between D. nudipes and D. incomtus in Angola, and our survey of series from Chitau identified as D. nudipes by Hill and Carter (1941:98) revealed that it consists of both D. nudipes and D. incomtus, qualitative observations supported by multivariate analyses of morphometric traits (Crawford-Cabral and Pacheco, 1989; W. Verheyen et al., 2003). Specimens from Lukolela (Équateur) and Luluabourg (Kasaï-Occidental), in Dem. Rep. Congo, have been included in D. nudipes (Crawford-Cabral, 1983), but these are examples of D. incomtus (in AMNH). We examined the holotype and only specimen of edsoni, described as a subspecies of D. nudipes from Lukolela, middle Dem. Rep. Congo (Hatt, 1934 b), and it too is an example of D. incomtus . Samples from the Okavango Basin, formerly considered examples of D. nudipes, represent D. cabrali (see that account).