Tachyoryctes macrocephalus Riippell, 1842 . Mus. Senckenberg., 3:97.

TYPE LOCALITY: Ethiopia, Shoa .

DISTRIBUTION: Ethiopia; endemic to high southern plateau (Rupp, 1980).

SYNONYMS: hecki.

COMMENTS: Inhabitant of Afro-alpine moorland and grassland, which it shares with the other Ethiopian endemics Stenocephalemys albocaudata, Lophuromys melanonyx, and Arvicanthis blicki (Yalden, 1988) . Tachyoryctes splendens ranges from below 1000 m to the high moorland (4000 m) where it occurs together with T. macrocephalus (Rupp, 1980; Yalden et al., 1976). Yalden (1975) provided ecological observations for T. macrocephalus and morphological contrasts between it and T. splendens. See Yalden (1985, Mammalian Species, 237).