Grammomys kuru (Thomas and Wroughton 1907)

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Rodentia - Family Muridae, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 2, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 1189-1531 : 1325

Grammomys kuru (Thomas and Wroughton 1907)

[Grammomys] kuru (Thomas and Wroughton 1907) , Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, 19: 381.

Type Locality: NE Dem. Rep. Congo, Orientale, Angu, Uele River.

Vernacular Names: Eastern Rainforest Grammomys.

Synonyms: Grammomys centralis (Dollman 1914) .

Distribution: Probably most of the E Congo Basin in S Central African Republic, Dem. Rep. Congo, forest patches in W Uganda ( Delany, 1975, as rutilans ), and possibly Republic of Congo; limits unresolved.

Discussion: Phylogenetically closely related to G. poensis but differs in its smaller skull and shorter molar rows. The karyotype 2n = 50 described by Matthey (1963) for a specimen captured in Republic of Congo probably refers to G. kuru and contrasts with the 2n = 36 reported from the Côte d’Ivoire (see account of G. poensis ). The taxon kuru has been treated as a synonym of G. rutilans (D. H. S. Davis, 1965; Musser and Carleton, 1993) or sometimes listed as a species (e.g., Ellerman, 1941), but with provisions ( Hatt, 1940 b; Hutterer and Dieterlen, 1984; Thomas, 1915); our study of the holotype revealed it is a very young adult. Measurements of the molar rows are like those in samples from E Dem. Rep. Congo and unlike samples of the larger G. poensis (see discussion in Hatt, 1940 b).