Cricetomys Waterhouse, 1840 . Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1840:2.

TYPE SPECIES: Cricetomys gambianus Waterhouse, 1840 .

COMMENTS: Six nominal species were recognized (e.g., Allen, 1939) before Ellerman (1941) reduced all to subspecies of C. gambianus . Genest-Villard's (1967) revision provided evidence of two kinds, a predominantly savannah-dwelling species (C. gambianus) and a lowland forest form (C. emini). Her character states for discriminating the two species are generally workable in West Africa but break down in parts of eastern Africa, which suggests the need for additional alpha-level study.