Stenocephalemys Frick 1914

Stenocephalemys Frick 1914, Ann. Carnegie Mus ., 9: 7.

Type Species: Stenocephalemys albocaudata Frick 1914

Species and subspecies: 4 species:

Species Stenocephalemys albipes (Rüppell 1842)

Species Stenocephalemys albocaudata Frick 1914

Species Stenocephalemys griseicauda F. Petter 1972

Species Stenocephalemys ruppi Van der Straeten and Dieterlen 1983

Discussion: Stenocephalemys Division. An Ethiopian endemic that is phylogenetically related to species of Praomys, Mastomys, Myomyscus, Heimyscus, and Hylomyscus (Lecompte et al., 2002 b) . Significance of analyses of craniodental and phallic structure, allozymes, chromosomal data, partial mitochondrial 16S rRNA and complete mtDNA cytochrome b gene sequences, and geometric morphometrics from samples of S. albipes, S. albocaudata, and S. griseicauda (Corti et al., 1999; Fadda and Corti, 2000; Fadda et al., 2001 a; Lavrenchenko et al., 1999, 2000; Lecompte et al., 2002 b) are discussed in accounts that follow. Statistical summaries of external measurements from large series of S. albocaudata and S. griseicauda reported by Sillero-Zubiri (1995 a), and the habitat preferences of these two species, abundance, and biomass in relation to predation by the endangered Ethiopian wolf ( Canis simensis) are documented by Sillero-Zubiri (1995 c). Spermatozoal morphology described by Baskevich and Lavrenchenko (1995) and Breed (1995 a). Isolated molars from late Miocene Ethiopian sediments (Chorora) were identified by Geraads (2001) as possibly being Stenocephalemys, and the genus is also represented by Pleistocene remains recovered in Ethiopia (Jaeger, 1979); see review by Denys (1999).