Heliosciurus mutabilis (Peters 1852)

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Rodentia - Family Sciuridae, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 2, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 754-818 : 793

Heliosciurus mutabilis (Peters 1852)

[Heliosciurus] mutabilis ( Peters 1852) , Bericht Verhandl. K. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 17: 273.

Type Locality: Mozambique, Boror, 19 km NW of Quelimane, 17°S. "Africa orientalis, Boror, 17° Lat. Austr." .

Vernacular Names: Mutable Sun Squirrel.

Subspecies: :

Subspecies Heliosciurus mutabilis subsp. mutabilis Peters 1852

Subspecies Heliosciurus mutabilis subsp. beirae Roberts 1913

Subspecies Heliosciurus mutabilis subsp. chirindensis Roberts 1913

Subspecies Heliosciurus mutabilis subsp. shirensis Gray 1867

Subspecies Heliosciurus mutabilis subsp. vumbae Roberts 1937

Distribution: Malawi; S and SW highlands, Tanzania; NW of the Zambezi River near Beira ( Mozambique); Chirinda Forest, Melsetter Dist., Sabi/Lundi River confluence, Vumba, Umtali ( SE Zimbabwe).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: G. M. Allen (1939) considered mutabilis a distinct species. Ellerman (1940) treated it as a subspecies of H. gambianus following Ingoldby (1927). Rosevear (1963), followed by Amtmann (1975), treated it as a subspecies of H. rufobrachium . Grubb (1982 b) again treated H. mutabilis as a distinct species and recognized the five subspecies above.