Taterillus gracilis (Thomas 1892)

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 : 1244

Taterillus gracilis (Thomas 1892)

[Taterillus] gracilis (Thomas 1892) , Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 6, 9: 77.

Type Locality: Gambia (see Robbins, 1974).

Vernacular Names: Gracile Tateril.

Synonyms: Taterillus angelus Thomas and Hinton 1920 ; Taterillus meridionalis Robbins 1974 ; Taterillus nigeriae Thomas 1911 .

Distribution: N Nigeria, Niger, S Mali, and Burkina Faso to Gambia and Senegal (see Dobigny et al., 2002 b; Duplantier and Granjon, 1992; Grubb et al., 1998; Meinig, 2000).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Chromosomal data (2n = 36/37, FNa = 42-44) for samples from Burkino Faso and Senegal were reported by Gautun et al. (1985) and Volobouev and Granjon (1996); Dobigny et al. (2002 b) recorded a slightly greater range in diploid and fundamental numbers in Niger samples. Rosevear (1969) included angelus in this species, but Sicard et al. (1988) discussed its possible specific status. The form nigeriae was provisionally considered valid by Rosevear (1969) but was treated as a subspecies of T. gracilis by Robbins (1974).