Big bush mouse

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Big bush mouse
Systematics
Family : Long-tailed mice (Muridae)
Subfamily : Old World Mice (Murinae)
Tribe : Arvicanthini
Oenomys group
Genre : Acacia mice ( Grammomys )
Type : Big bush mouse
Scientific name
Grammomys gigas
( Dollman , 1911)

The great bush mouse ( Grammomys gigas ) is a little researched mouse species from the genus of acacia mice ( Grammomys ). It is known only from a single specimen collected at the end of 1910 on the Mount Kenya massif .

features

The type specimen , an old male with worn molars , has a total length of 132 mm and a tail length of 201 mm. The ear length is 19 mm and the rear foot length is 26.5 mm. The skull length is given as 35.5 mm and the skull width as 16.9 mm. The total length of the upper row of teeth from the first incisor to the third molar is 5.5 mm. The back fur is olive gray with a dark yellow-sand-colored wash. The reddish tint of the fur becomes increasingly bright orange-red towards the rump. The head, the sides of the face, the neck and the shoulders are washed out dark yellow-brown. The flanks are tinted a deep orange-brown and sharply delimited from the white underside. The peritoneum is white with a pinkish-sand tint and appears almost white in its general coloration. The front of the front and rear feet are sand colored. The long tail is covered with short hair. At the end of the tail, the long hair forms a light tuft. The skull is very large and massive. The cranium is larger than that of the related species. The cheekbone is strong and heavy. The anterior palatal opening (foramen palatinum) is very long. The tympanic bulla is large and somewhat oversized. The molars are particularly large. The row of teeth is longer and wider than that of the African bush vole ( Grammomys ibeanus ).

Distribution, habitat and way of life

The holotype of the big bush vole was collected on December 28, 1910 at an altitude of 2740 m near Solai on Mount Kenya. In his first description from 1911, Guy Dollman reported another specimen from the Kasituka region west of Mount Kenya, but no further information is available about it. Little is known about the habitat and way of life. The species is tree-dwelling (arboreal) and inhabits moist, tropical mountain forests and bushland at high altitudes. Presumably the habitat requirements are similar to those of the sympatric African bush vole.

Systematics

The big bush mouse was described by Guy Dollman in 1911 as Thamnomys gigas . In the following period it was recognized by numerous authors (including Allen 1939, Ellerman 1941, Hutterer & Dieterlen 1984, Musser & Carleton 1993, 2005) as a valid species within the Grammomys genus . Without knowledge and investigation of the holotype, it was synonymous with the Mozambique bush mouse ( Grammomys cometes ) by Ned Hollister in 1919 . The significantly larger body and skull dimensions suggest, however, that Grammomys gigas is an independent species. The body size information of the African bush vole ( Grammomys ibeanus ) is in a similar range as that of G. gigas , which Guy Musser and Michael D. Carleton suggested that G. gigas is a very large specimen of G. ibeanus could act, the skull and teeth of G. gigas are much larger than those of G. ibeanus .

status

The IUCN lists the great bush vole in the “endangered” category . Information on population size and population trend is not available. The range of this species covers less than 2000 km². The habitat is endangered by the logging for timber and firewood as well as by the conversion into agricultural land.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Allen GM. 1939. A Checklist of African Mammals. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College 83: 1-763
  2. ↑ JR Ellerman: The families and genera of living rodents; with a list of named forms (1758-1936) by RW Hayman and GWCHolt, 1941
  3. ↑ Hutterer, R. and Dieterlen, F. 1984. Two new species of the genus Grammomys from Ethiopia and Kenya (Mammalia; Muridae). Stuttgart Contributions to Natural History, Series A (Biology) 347: 1–18.
  4. ↑ Musser, GG and Carleton, MD 1993. Family Muridae. In: DE Wilson and DA Reeder (eds), Mammal species of the world: A taxonomic and geographic reference, pp. 501-736. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC, USA.
  5. ↑ Musser, GG and Carleton, MD 2005. Superfamily Muroidea. In: DE Wilson and DA Reeder (eds), Mammal Species of the World: a geographic and taxonomic reference, pp. 894-1531. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA.
  6. ^ Hollister, N. (1919): East African Mammals in the United States National Museum. Part 2: Rodentia, Lagomorpha, and Tubilidentata. Bulletin of the United States National Museum 99: pp. 1-184.
  7. ↑ Grammomys gigas in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species .

literature

  • Fritz Dieterlen: Grammomys gigas . In: Jonathan Kingdon, Thomas M. Butynski, David CD Happold, Meredith Happold (Eds.): Mammals of Africa. Volume 3: Rodents, Hares, and Rabbits. Bloomsbury, London et al. 2013, ISBN 978-140-812-253-2 , pp. 412-413.
  • Guy Dollman: Mammals from British East Africa . In: The Annals and magazine of natural history; zoology, botany, and geology being a continuation of the Annals combined with Loudon and Charlesworth's Magazine of Natural History. Series 8, Volume 7, 1911. P. 527

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