Lemniscomys Trouessart, 1881

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 : 641

Genus Lemniscomys Trouessart, 1881 ( Tables 7 ; 8 )

REMARKS

Four species of striped mice are known to occur in West Africa: Lemniscomys striatus Linnaeus, 1758 , L. linulus Thomas, 1910 , L. zebra Heuglin, 1864 and L. bellieri Van der Straeten 1975 ( Denys et al. 2020). A single species was reported on Mount Nimba, L. striatus ( Heim de Balsac & Lamotte 1958; Coe 1975; Misonne & Verschuren 1976). However, we found two specimens assigned to L. bellieri in the MNHN collections. A recent study has shown morphological and genetic differences between the three Lemniscomys species found in Guinea ( Denys et al. 2020). A molecular revision at the continental scale has demonstrated that pelage coloration patterns do not reflect phylogeny ( Hánová et al. 2021). According to these authors, the bellieri specimens from the type locality (Lamto, Côte d’Ivoire) are in the same clade as the L. macculus representatives of Central African Republic and Ethiopia, and hence they proposed that these two species are synonymous ( Hánová et al. 2021). Lemniscomys striatus displays a standard karyotype of 2N= 44 in Côte d’Ivoire (Tranier, Dosso, Gautun unpublished, pers. comm.), 2N= 43-44 in Burkina Faso ( Gautun et al. 1986) and 2N =44, NFa= 66 in coastal Guinea ( Denys et al. 2009). Lemniscomys bellieri is characterized by 2N= 58 ( van der Straeten 1975).