Stenocephalemys ruppi Van der Straeten and Dieterlen 1983

Stenocephalemys ruppi Van der Straeten and Dieterlen 1983, Ann. Mus . R. Afr. C., 237: 121.

Type Locality: Ethiopia, Bonke, north of Bulta, 2800-3200 m.

Vernacular Names: Rupp's Stenocephalemys.

Distribution: Ethiopia; known only from Bonke and Bulta in the Gamo Gofa region of SW Ethiopia, 2700-3200 m (Rupp, 1980; Van der Straeten and Dieterlen, 1983; Yalden and Largen, 1992).

Conservation: IUCN – Vulnerable as Myomys ruppi .

Discussion: Originally described as a species of Praomys based on material collected by Rupp (1980), who illustrated the skull as " Praomys albipes, stenocephaler Typ" (p. 92). Musser and Carleton (1993) wrote that " M. ruppi combines morphological features of both M. albipes and Stenocephalemys, an observation reinforced by morphometric analyses (Van der Straeten and Dieterlen, 1983). Were it not for the long tail of M. ruppi (a trait shared with M. albipes), the species could as easily be included within Stenocephalemys . " In their canonical analysis of ruppi, albipes, and S. griseicauda, Van der Straeten and Dieterlen (1983) derived scores for ruppi that fell between those representing the other two species, but portrayed ruppi as being overall more closely related to S. griseicauda . Fadda and Corti (2000) disagreed with that assessment, noting that in their study " ruppi shares centroid size values and shape changes that are typical of M. albipes," indicated they have unpublished evidence suggesting divergence within "Ethiopian Myomys " (presumably albipes), and considered the relationship of the Bonke population as unresolved. We await their results but meanwhile all available data about ruppi support its transfer from Myomys (= Myomyscus) to Stenocephalemys .