Malacomys edwardsi Rochebrune, 1885

Decher, Jan, Norris, Ryan W., Abedi-Lartey, Michael, Oppong, James, Hutterer, Rainer, Weinbrenner, Martin, Koch, Martin, Podsiadlowski, Lars & Kilpatrick, C. William, 2021, A survey of small mammals in the Volta Region of Ghana with comments on zoogeography and conservation, Zoosystema 43 (14), pp. 253-281 : 264

Malacomys edwardsi Rochebrune, 1885

Malacomys edwardsi Rochebrune, 1885: 87 .

COMMON NAME. — Edwards’ Swamp Rat.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Apesokubi • 1 ♀; USNM 59078 ; 28.VIII.2001; with four embryos ( USNM 590105 ) with a crown -rump length of 19 mm • 2 ♂; USNM 590076 , ZTNHC 960 • 1 ♀; USNM 590077 .

REMARK

An obligate forest species in the Upper Guinea and an indicator of intact forest. A recent phylogeographic study confirmed the identification of all four of our M. edwardsi from Apesokubi but showed that these Volta Region specimens represent a lineage (F2) separate from the southwestern Ghanaian lineage (F1), “which may suggest the presence of multiple forest refugia” in Ghana ( Bohoussou et al. 2015: 9). Hurst et al. (1995) reported 5 captures of M. edwardsi from moist semi-deciduous and secondary forest in KRNP which appears to be the only previous record of this species from the Ghana-Togo Highlands. We were not able to verify this species again at KRNP.

CONSERVATION STATUS. — Malacomys edwardsi is currently listed as “Least Concern” on the IUCN Red List, but - already limited to the densest and best preserved forest in the Volta Region - it would be one of the first rodent species to disappear with continued deforestation.