Aethomys nyikae (Thomas 1897)

[Aethomys] nyikae (Thomas 1897), Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1897: 431.

Type Locality: N Malawi, Nyika Plateau (probably on lower slopes; Ansell and Ansell, 1973; Ansell and Dowsett, 1988; Ansell, 1989 b) .

Vernacular Names: Nyika Aethomys.

Synonyms: Aethomys dollmani Hatt 1934 .

Distribution: Known only from NE Zambia (1978), Malawi (Ansell and Dowsett, 1988; Ansell, 1989 b), NE Angola (Crawford-Cabral, 1998), and S Dem. Rep. Congo (Hatt, 1934 b); see Davis (1975 b).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Delany (1975) considered nyikae to be a synonym of A. kaiseri, but others (Davis, 1975 b; Ansell, 1978, 1989 b) correctly treated it as a separate species. Ansell (1978) documented geographic range and discussed identity of dollmani; inclusion of that taxon, which is based upon samples from S Dem. Rep. Congo (Hatt, 1934 b), is provisional (Davis, 1975 b). The published record from Eastern Ngorima Reserve in E Zimbabwe (Davis, 1975b), represented by the only specimen (now lost) from south of the Zambezi River, is probably based on a juvenile A. silindensis (Chimimba, 1998:434) and is likely the basis for de Graaff’s (1997 x) indication that A. nyikae occurs in the Southern African Subregion. All current evidence indicates the species does not occur in southern Africa south of the Zambezi-Cunene Rivers (C. T. Chimimba, 2002, in litt.). A specimen collected at Duque de Bragança, just north of the Central Angolan Plateau, may represent A. nyikae or an unnamed species related to it (Crawford-Cabral, 1999). Aethomys nyikae and A. kaiseri are sympatric in Zambia and probably E Angola (Crawford-Cabral, 1998).