Praomys misonnei Van der Straeten and Dieterlen 1987

Praomys misonnei Van der Straeten and Dieterlen 1987, Stuttg. Beitr. Naturk., ser. A, 402: 3.

Type Locality: E Dem. Rep. Congo, Kivu region, Irangi.

Vernacular Names: Misonne's Praomys.

Distribution: N and E Dem. Rep. Congo.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Sympatric with P. jacksoni at the type locality and with P. jacksoni and P. mutoni in Orientale (Van der Straeten and Dudu, 1990). Regarded as related to P. tullbergi by Van der Straeten and Dieterlen (1987; Van der Straeten and Dudu, 1990; Dudu et al., 1997). Examples of misonnei we examined from the Ituri Forest in E Dem. Rep. Congo and Gamangui in the Orientale Province, where P. jacksoni was also trapped, are morphologically very similar to P. tullbergi; the possibility that misonnei simply represents populations of P. tullbergi at the eastern margins of its geographic range needs to be considered in any systematic revision of the complex. They are very closely associated in phylogenetic analyses of morphological traits (Lecompte et al., 2002 a) and complete mtDNA cytochrome b sequences (Lecompte et a., 2002 b). Qumsiyeh et al. (1990) identified Kenyan samples as P. misonnei, and their chromosomal and electrophoretic characteristics relate the samples to what they identified as Praomys hildebrandti; identity of the Kenyan material should be reassessed (Van der Straeten and Kerbis Peterhans, 1999, examined five of the specimens used by Qumsiyeh et al. in their chromosomal and electrophoretic analyses and identified them as members of the P. jacksoni complex, yet Lecompte et al., 2001, claimed that Van der Straeten examined the Kenyan specimens and considered them to be P. misonnei). Dudu et al. (1997) provided the first information on reproductive biology in samples from the Masako forest near Kisangani, Dem. Rep. Congo.