Striped mice
| Striped mice | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Hybomys | ||||||||||||
| Thomas , 1910 |
The striped mice ( Hybomys ) are a genus of rodents from the group of old world mice (Murinae). The genus includes six species.
General
Striped mice reach a head body length of 10 to 16 centimeters, in addition there is an 8 to 13 centimeter long tail. Their weight is 30 to 70 grams. Their fur is mostly soft, it is colored brown or black-brown on the top and white-gray to beige on the underside. A dark eel line stretches along the back , but this can hardly be seen in individual animals. The paws and tail are colored brown or black-brown.
Striped mice live in Africa south of the Sahara , their range extends from Guinea to Uganda . Their habitat are forests and scrublands. There are diurnal as well as nocturnal species; they spend their resting time in a nest that is built in an earthwork. The food is likely to consist of both insects and plant material such as fruits.
After a gestation period of around 29 to 31 days, the female gives birth to one to four young. These open their eyes after seven to ten days, and females are sexually mature at three months.
Systematics
Within the old world mice, the striped mice are the namesake of the Hybomys genus group, which also includes the Defua rats ( Dephomys ) and the target rats ( Stochomys ).
According to genetic studies by Lecompte et al. (2008) the animals of the Hybomys group are part of a predominantly African radiation of Old World mice, which also includes the Aethomys group , the Arvicanthis group , the Dasymys group , the Golunda group and the Oenomys group and which are classified as Arvicanthini can be summarized. With the actual rats ( Rattus ), however, there is only a very distant relationship.
There are six species in two sub-genera:
- Subgenus Hybomys
- Hybomys badius lives in mountainous regions in Cameroon.
- Hybomys basilii is endemic to the island of Bioko, which is part of Equatorial Guinea.
- Hybomys lunaris lives in the Ruwenzori Mountains in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
- Hybomys univittatus is widespread in central Africa from Nigeria to Uganda.
- Typomys subgenus
- Hybomys planifrons lives from Guinea to the Ivory Coast.
- Hybomys trivirgatus is distributed from Sierra Leone to Nigeria.
Sometimes Typomys is separated as a separate genus.
The species with a small range are threatened. The IUCN lists H. badius and H. basilii as "high risk" ( endangered ) and H. lunaris as "endangered" ( vulnerabled ).
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 .
- 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 .
- 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 .