Lemniscomys macculus Thomas and Wroughton 1910

Lemniscomys macculus Thomas and Wroughton 1910, Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond., 19: 515.

Type Locality: Uganda, SE Ruwenzori, Mokia.

Vernacular Names: Buffoon Lemniscomys.

Synonyms: Lemniscomys akka (Thomas 1915) .

Distribution: Recorded from Savannahs of NE Dem. Rep. Congo, S Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, and Kenya; limits unknown.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Reviewed by Van der Straeten and Verheyen (1979 a). The species is often confused with L. striatus, but occurs sympatric with it in East Africa (Hollister, 1919) and Ethiopia (Yalden et al., 1996). Bulatova et al. (2002) recorded 2n = 56, FN = 60 for an Ethiopian sample. Considered very close to L. bellieri in morphological and molecular characters and possibly conspecific with it (Ducroz et al., 2001; see account of L. bellieri).