Mastomys Thomas, 1915

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 : 646

Genus Mastomys Thomas, 1915

( Fig. 10; Tables 7 ; 8 )

REMARKS

Two species of Mastomys are known to occur in forest clearings and Guinean savannas of Guinea ( Lalis et al. 2009): M. natalensis (Smith, 1834) and M. erythroleucus ( Temminck, 1853) . These two species are difficult to distinguish morphologically as shown by Denys et al. (2012) and Lalis et al. (2009), but present distinct cytogenetic characters and molecular typing allow their discrimination. Gautun et al. (1986) signalized the capture of two M. erythroleucus in Zouguepo and numerous records of potentially two forms of Mastomys were collected by Heim de Balsac & Lamotte (1958), Coe (1975) and Misonne & Verschuren (1976).We karyotyped two specimens and sequenced 12 others, which has allowed us to recognize the presence of both species in our new material. A canonical analysis performed upon 10 skull measurements shows a large variability and overlap between the species representatives ( Fig. 10). The specific identification of the Lamotte collection is difficult without genetic markers but concerning our non-genetically typed specimens from villages in the Ziela region they all fit within the M. natalensis variability. Concerning the MNHN Lamotte collections, identifications at species level are doubtful even with the use of morphometric data, so we retain these old specimens as Mastomys sp.