Aethomys kaiseri (Noack 1887)

[Aethomys] kaiseri (Noack 1887), Zool. Jahrb. Syst., 2: 228.

Type Locality: Dem. Rep. Congo, Katanga Marungu.

Vernacular Names: Kaiser's Aethomys.

Synonyms: Aethomys amalae Dollman 1914; Aethomys hintoni Hatt 1934; Aethomys manteufeli Matschie 1911; Aethomys pedester Thomas 1911; Aethomys turneri Heller 1914; Aethomys vernayi Hill and Carter 1937; Aethomys walambae Wroughton 1907 .

Distribution: SW Uganda, S Kenya, Rwanda, S and E Dem. Rep. Congo, W and SW Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, and NC Angola; range mostly derived from Davis (1975 b).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Significance of regional morphological variation needs to be assessed by a systematic revision. Westernmost population is that in Angola ("... the Cuanza-Luando Mesopotamia, the Cuango River and the Southern Lunda Province"; Crawford-Cabral, 1999:180), referred to as A. k. vernayi, which seems to be isolated from the primary range of A. kaiseri (Hill and Carter [1941] treated vernayi as a species); genetic intergradation between populations of vernayi and kaiseri has yet to be documented (Crawford-Cabral, 1998, 1999). Crawford-Cabral (1998) reviewed Angolan population, and Grimshaw et al. (1995) discussed Mt Kilimanjaro records. Cytogenetics (C- and G-banding) and complete mtDNA cytochrome b sequence of Zambian A. kaiseri characterized and constrasted with samples of A. chrysophilus by Castiglia et al. (2003 b); see account of the latter.