Mylomys dybowskii (Pousargues 1893)

[Mylomys] dybowskii (Pousargues 1893), Bull. Soc. Zool. Fr., 18: 163.

Type Locality: Central African Republic, Kemo River.

Vernacular Names: Common Mylomys.

Synonyms: Mylomys alberti Thomas 1915; Mylomys christyi Thomas 1917; Mylomys cuninghamei Thomas 1906; Mylomys lowei Hayman 1935; Mylomys lutescens Thomas 1915; Mylomys massaicus Lönnberg 1916; Mylomys rex (Thomas 1906); Mylomys richardi Hayman 1939; Mylomys roosevelti (Heller 1910) .

Distribution: Guinea (Mt Nimba), Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana (Grubb et al., 1998), S Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, W, N and E Dem. Rep. Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania (Swynnerton and Hayman, 1951), Kenya (Hollister, 1919), Uganda (Delany, 1975), and S Sudan (Setzer, 1958); abstracted from Rosevear (1969), Misonne (1974), many faunal reports, and specimens examined in AMNH, BMNH, FMNH, and USNM.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Hatt (1940 a) noted that the cotypes of dybowskii are examples of Mylomys, not Pelomys under which the name had been listed (Ellerman, 1941), and selected a lectotype. The identity was verified by F. Petter (1962 b), who also thought there were two species in the genus, M. dybowskii and the West African M. lowei, named by Hayman (1935) as a subspecies of M. cuninghamei . Rosevear (1969) followed F. Petter in recognizing M. lowei and in turn was followed by Grubb et al. (1998). Hayman (1935:934), however, regarded all forms to be part of a single species: "In considering what value to place on this Ashanti form [ lowei] it has seemed best to regard all the known Mylomys as a subspecies of the original cuninghamei Thos. From that small and rather dark form, through the middle-sized lutescens and christyi to the large brightly-coloured races roosevelti, alberti, and the present form, the differences lie chiefly in comparative size and intensity of colouring. In my opinion the characters of lowei are not sufficient to justify full specific differentiation." Significance of geographic variation in chromatic and morphological traits has yet to be assessed by critical systematic revision; whether the genus is monotypic, contains the two species listed here, or consists of more than two is unresolved. Chromosomal data available for samples from Central African Republic (Matthey, 1970) and Mt Nimba (Guinea; Gautun et al., 1986).