Otomys barbouri Lawrence and Loveridge 1953

Otomys barbouri Lawrence and Loveridge 1953, Bull. Mus . Comp. Zool., Harvard, 110: 63.

Type Locality: Uganda, Mount Elgon, Kaburomi, 10,500 ft; 01º14′N, 34º31′E.

Vernacular Names: Barbour's Vlei Rat.

Distribution: Afro-alpine zone of Mount Elgon, ca. 3500-4300 m, Uganda and Kenya.

Discussion: Lawrence and Loveridge (1953) emphasized the contrasts between their new species and O. (Anchotomys) anchietae, but Misonne (1974) reassigned it as a synonym of the latter, an opinion erroneously followed by others (Honacki et al., 1982; Corbet and Hill, 1991; Musser and Carleton, 1993). Trenchant differences from O. anchietae explicated by Dieterlen and Van der Straeten (1992), who reinstated barbouri as species and suggested its closer relationship to O. occidentalis and O. lacustris; morphological and morphometric discrimination amplified by Taylor and Kimurai (2001). Knowledge of altitudinal distribution, autecology, and natural history vastly improved by the studies of Clausnitzer (2000, 2001; Clausnitzer and Kityo, 2001).