Atelerix frontalis (A. Smith 1831)

[Atelerix] frontalis (A. Smith 1831), South African Quart. J., 2: 10.

Type Locality: " Cape Colony"; restricted to South Africa, Eastern Cape Prov., northern parts of the Graaff Reinet district, by Ellerman et al. (1953).

Vernacular Names: Southern African Hedgehog.

Subspecies::

Subspecies Atelerix frontalis subsp. frontalis A. Smith 1831

Subspecies Atelerix frontalis subsp. angolae Thomas 1918

Distribution: S South Africa to E Botswana and W Zimbabwe; and Namibia to SW Angola.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Genus allocation uncertain. Results of Bannikova et al. (2002) obtained with the fingerprinting method indicate that frontalis does not form a monophyletic group with other species of Atelerix and thus may deserve a genus of its own. Meester et al. (1986:15) listed angolae as a valid subspecies.