Mus baoulei ( Vermeiren & Verheyen, 1980 )

Denys, Christiane, Missoup, Alain Didier, Nicolas, Violaine, Sylla, Morlaye, Douno, Mory, Kadjo, Blaise, Lalis, Aude & Monadjem, Ara, 2025, Annotated checklist of rodents from a biodiversity hotspot, Mount Nimba (West Africa), Zoosystema 47 (27), pp. 617-689 : 648

Mus baoulei ( Vermeiren & Verheyen, 1980)

Leggada baoulei Vermeiren & Verheyen, 1980: 573 .

REMARKS

The species was recently described and genetically validated by Kan Kouassi et al. (2008) and Bryja et al. (2014). Our single Nimba individual was validated with a blast (Cyt B, reference sequence PX354162). The species is characterized by a small size, a very short tail (66% of HB) and the presence of ochre spots below each eye and below each ear. The dorsal pelage is rufous-brown and the ventral pelage white. The tail is bicolored. Its standard external measurements fit well with the other genetically typed specimens of Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire ( Table 7 ). The skull in dorsal view has a relatively long and narrow rostrum. The CIO is wide and the braincase rounded and inflated. The skull displays in ventral view a very long incisor foramen entering in the palate until the t4 of the upper M1/. The incisive foramina are narrower anteriorly. The tympanic bullae are small and rounded. Our new specimen fits well in size with skull measurements of the Côte d’Ivoire and Guinean M. baoulei specimens. The molars rows are relatively long and intermediate in size between those of M. setulosus and M. minutoides ( Table 8 ). The upper M3/3 are very small and reduced to a single lamina.