Arvicanthis blicki Frick, 1914

Guy G. Musser & Michael D. Carleton, 1993, Order Rodentia - Family Muridae, Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition), Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 501-755 : 576

Arvicanthis blicki Frick, 1914 . Ann. Carnegie Mus., 9:20.

TYPE LOCALITY: Ethiopia, South Chilalo Mtns, Hora Mt base camp, 9000 ft .

DISTRIBUTION: Ethiopia; between 2750 and 3500 m from plateau on E side of Ethiopian Rift Valley ( Yalden et al., 1976).

COMMENTS: An Ethiopian endemic that is a characteristic diurnal member of Afro-Alpine moorland zone above 3500 m ( Demeter and Topal, 1982; Rupp, 1980; Yalden, 1988; Yalden et al., 1976). In morphology, ecological and geographic distributions, and habits, A. blicki is a very distinctive species, as recognized by Dorst (1972) that, judged by similarities in molar topography and dorsal fur patterning, is more closely related to A. abyssinicus than to any other species of Arvicanthis .