Lemniscomys zebra (Heuglin 1864)

[Lemniscomys] zebra (Heuglin 1864), Beitr. Zool. Cent.-Afrika's Leopoldina, 31: 10.

Type Locality: Sudan, Bahr el Ghazal (Carleton and Van der Straeten, 1997, provided additional information).

Vernacular Names: Heuglin's Lemniscomys.

Synonyms: Lemniscomys albolineatus (Osgood 1910); Lemniscomys convictus (Osgood 1910); Lemniscomys dunni (Thomas 1903); Lemniscomys manteufeli Matschie 1911; Lemniscomys nigeriae (Thomas 1912); Lemniscomys nubalis Thomas and Hinton 1923; Lemniscomys olga Thomas and Hinton 1921; Lemniscomys orientalis Hatt 1935; Lemniscomys oweni Thomas 1911; Lemniscomys spekei (De Winton 1897) .

Distribution: "Grassy woodlands and savannas south of the Sahara Desert, from Senegal in the west to southern Sudan in the east, southwards through northeastern-most Zaire [Dem. Rep. Congo], northern Uganda and western Kenya, to northcentral Tanzania;" sea level to 1220 m (Carleton and Van der Straeten, 1997:669). Not yet documented from Ethiopia, although the species probably occurs in the W region of that country (Carleton and Van der Straeten, 1997).

Conservation: IUCN – Least Concern.

Discussion: A member, along with L. barbarus and L. hoogstraali, of the L. barbarus group. Results of morphometric analyses by Carleton and Van der Straeten (1997) distinguished this species from L. barbarus, which is endemic to the Barbarian province (Maghreb) of Northwest Africa. See their comprehensive revision for details of taxonomy, geographic distribution, geographic character variation, and selection of a lectotype (p. 669). Karyotypes documented (usually as L. barbarus) from several geographic samples (Fadda et al., 2001 b, NE Tanzania; Gautun et al., 1986, Burkina Faso; Dobigny et al., 2002 b, Niger; Matthey, 1954, Côte d’Ivoire; Van der Straeten, in Carleton and Van der Straeten, 1997, Cameroon), all of which have the same diploid number as L. barbarus (2n = 54). Grubb et al. (1998) reviewed populations from Ghana and Gambia. Morphometric and ecological data for sample from S Ghana recorded by Ryan and Attuquayefio (2000, as barbarus).