African water rat

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African water rat
Systematics
Family : Long-tailed mice (Muridae)
Subfamily : Old World Mice (Murinae)
Tribe : Praomyini
Colomys group
Genre : Colomys
Type : African water rat
Scientific name of the  genus
Colomys
Thomas & Wroughton , 1907
Scientific name of the  species
Colomys goslingi
Thomas & Wroughton , 1907

The African water rat ( Colomys goslingi ), also known as the African forest brook mouse , is an African rodent from the group of old world mice (Murinae).

General

The head body length is 11 to 14 centimeters, in addition there is a 13 to 19 centimeter long tail. The fur is brown on the top and white on the underside. The brown tint becomes darker from front to back and is almost black in the back part of the back. The long tail is scaly and almost hairless.

African water rats have a fragmentary range in central Africa . They are native to Liberia , western Cameroon and from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Ethiopia and Angola . It is mostly found along wooded river banks and is an inhabitant of swamps and rainforests.

They are nocturnal animals that build burrows on river banks. They look for food in very shallow water. Here they wade through the mud and use their whiskers (vibrissae) to track down worms, aquatic insects, snails and crustaceans. Plant parts, on the other hand, are rarely eaten. Water rats can swim well, but only use this ability when fleeing or when forced to move.

According to the IUCN, the species is not an endangered species.

Systematics

The African water rat is the namesake of the Colomys genus group within the old world mice, which also includes the Ethiopian water mice ( Nilopegamys ) and the broad-headed mice ( Zelotomys ).

According to genetic studies by Lecompte et al. (2008) the animals of the Colomys group are part of an African radiation of Old World mice, which also includes the Stenocephalemys group and which is sometimes summarized as Praomyini.

literature

  • Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. 2 volumes. 6th edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD et al. 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
  • Michael D. Carleton, Guy G. Musser: Order Rodentia. In: Don E. Wilson , DeeAnn M. Reeder (Eds.): Mammal Species of the World. A taxonomic and geographic Reference. 2 volumes. 3. Edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8221-4 , pp. 745-752.
  • Emilie Lecompte, Ken Aplin, Christiane Denys, François Catzeflis, Marion Chades, Pascale Chevret: Phylogeny and biogeography of African Murinae based on mitochondrial and nuclear gene sequences, with a new tribal classification of the subfamily. In: BMC Evolutionary Biology. Vol. 8, 199, 2008, pp. 1-21, doi : 10.1186 / 1471-2148-8-199 .

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