Mastomys coucha (Smith, 1834)

Guy G. Musser & Michael D. Carleton, 1993, Order Rodentia - Family Muridae, Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition), Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 501-755 : 610

Mastomys coucha (Smith, 1834) . Rept. Exped. Exploring Central Africa, p. 43.

TYPE LOCALITY: South Africa, N Cape Prov., between Orange River and Tropic of Capricorn (see Meester et al., 1986:286) .

DISTRIBUTION: South Africa (E and N Cape Prov., Zululand, Lesotho, Orange Free State, S and W Transvaal), S and W Zimbabwe, C Namibia (see map in Skinner and Smithers, 1990:270); extent of range beyond this region unresolved.

SYNONYMS: bradfieldi, breyeri , limpopoensis , marikquensis , sicialis, socialis .

COMMENTS: Characterized by 2N=36 (FN=56) and a distinctive hemoglobin electromorph, coucha occurs sympatrically with M. natalensis , which is distinguished by different hemoglobin pattern and 2N=32, FN=54 (Green et al., 1980). The two species also differ in cranial, phallic, and spermatozoal morphology as well as reproductive behavior, ultrasonic vocalizations, and phermones (see references in Skinner and Smithers, 1990). Synonyms listed are only those pertaining to samples from South Africa for reasons explained by Meester et al. (1986); of these, Robbins and Van der Straeten (1989) regarded marikquensis to be a Myomys , and Robbins (in Meester et al., 1986) claimed it may be a species distinct from Myomys verreauxii .