Lemniscomys zebra (Heuglin 1864)

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 : 1344

Lemniscomys zebra (Heuglin 1864)

[Lemniscomys] zebra (Heuglin 1864) , Beitr. Zool. Cent.-Afrika's Leopoldina, 31: 10.

Type Locality: Sudan, Bahr el Ghazal ( Carleton and Van der Straeten, 1997, provided additional information).

Vernacular Names: Heuglin's Lemniscomys.

Synonyms: Lemniscomys albolineatus ( Osgood 1910) ; Lemniscomys convictus ( Osgood 1910) ; Lemniscomys dunni ( Thomas 1903) ; Lemniscomys manteufeli Matschie 1911 ; Lemniscomys nigeriae (Thomas 1912) ; Lemniscomys nubalis Thomas and Hinton 1923 ; Lemniscomys olga Thomas and Hinton 1921 ; Lemniscomys orientalis Hatt 1935 ; Lemniscomys oweni Thomas 1911 ; Lemniscomys spekei (De Winton 1897) .

Distribution: "Grassy woodlands and savannas south of the Sahara Desert, from Senegal in the west to southern Sudan in the east, southwards through northeastern-most Zaire [Dem. Rep. Congo], northern Uganda and western Kenya, to northcentral Tanzania;" sea level to 1220 m ( Carleton and Van der Straeten, 1997:669). Not yet documented from Ethiopia, although the species probably occurs in the W region of that country ( Carleton and Van der Straeten, 1997).

Conservation: IUCN – Least Concern.

Discussion: A member, along with L. barbarus and L. hoogstraali , of the L. barbarus group. Results of morphometric analyses by Carleton and Van der Straeten (1997) distinguished this species from L. barbarus , which is endemic to the Barbarian province (Maghreb) of Northwest Africa. See their comprehensive revision for details of taxonomy, geographic distribution, geographic character variation, and selection of a lectotype (p. 669). Karyotypes documented (usually as L. barbarus ) from several geographic samples ( Fadda et al., 2001 b, NE Tanzania; Gautun et al., 1986, Burkina Faso; Dobigny et al., 2002 b, Niger; Matthey, 1954, Côte d’Ivoire; Van der Straeten, in Carleton and Van der Straeten, 1997, Cameroon), all of which have the same diploid number as L. barbarus (2n = 54). Grubb et al. (1998) reviewed populations from Ghana and Gambia. Morphometric and ecological data for sample from S Ghana recorded by Ryan and Attuquayefio (2000, as barbarus ).