Dendromus mesomelas (Brants 1827)

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Rodentia - Family Nesomyidae, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 2, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 930-955 : 939

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.7316535

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11328743

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/1F93F57C-5176-D1B0-149D-8CD85242490B

treatment provided by

Guido (2022-12-13 04:20:14, last updated 2024-11-25 23:45:46)

scientific name

Dendromus mesomelas (Brants 1827)
status

 

Dendromus mesomelas (Brants 1827) View in CoL

[Dendromus] mesomelas ( Brants 1827) View in CoL , Het Geslacht der Muizen: 122.

Type Locality: South Africa, Eastern Cape Prov., Sunday’s River, east of Port Elizabeth.

Vernacular Names: Brants's African Climbing Mouse.

Synonyms: Dendromus ayresi Roberts 1913 ; Dendromus major St. Leger 1930 ; Dendromus pumilio (Wagner 1841) ; Dendromus typicus Smith 1834 ; Dendromus typus Smith 1829 .

Distribution: Discontinuous range in Southern African Subregion—in South Africa across Western and Eastern Cape Provs., north through KwaZulu-Natal (Taylor, 1998), to Mpumalanga and Limpopo; Okavango swamps in N Botswana and Caprivi region of NE Namibia ( Smithers, 1971); NW Zambia ( Ansell, 1978, as D. m. major ); and Gorongoza Mtn in C Mozambique ( Smithers and Lobao Tello, 1976); may eventually be found in wet habitats of SE Angola and SW Zambia. Not recorded north of the Zambeze River in Mozambique or north of about 12º latitude elsewhere.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Reviewed by de Graaff (1997 cc). The indecisive shifting of pumilio between D. mesomelas and D. mystacalis is reviewed Meester et al. (1986), who documented its proper association with the former. Some names once included in D. mesomelas (see Misonne, 1974) are here treated as distinct species (see D. insignis , D. nyasae , D. oreas , and D. vernayi ). Judged by specimens, D. mesomelas from the Southern African Subregion is morphologically separable from northern populations in East Africa, Angola, and Cameroon. It is a larger version of, and likely closely related to, D. mystacalis . Dendromus mesomelas inhabits grasslands in swamps and other wet habitats; whereas, D. mystacalis and D. melanotis , which occur in the same regions, occupy dryer environments ( Smithers, 1971; Smithers and Lobao Tello, 1976).

Ansell, W. F. H. 1978. The mammals of Zambia. National Parks and Wildlife Service, Chilanga, 126 pp.

Brants, A. 1827. Het Geslacht der muizen door Linnaeus opgesteld, volgens de tegenswoordige toestand der wetenschap in familien, geslachten en soorten verdeeld. Academische Boekdrukkerij, Berlijn, 190 pp.

Meester, J. A. J., I. L. Rautenbach, N. J. Dippenaar, and C. M. Baker. 1986. Classification of southern African mammals. Transvaal Museum Monograph, 5: 1 - 359.

Misonne, X. 1974. Order Rodentia. Part 6. Pp. 1 - 39, in The mammals of Africa: An identification manual (J. Meester and H. W. Setzer, eds.). [issued 10 Sep 1974]. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D. C., not continuously paginated.

Roberts, A. 1913. The collection of mammals in the Transvaal Museum. Annals of the Transvaal Museum, 4: 65 - 107.

Smithers, R. H. N. 1971. The mammals of Botswana. Museum Memoir, National Museums of Rhodesia, Salisbury, 4: 1 - 340.

Smithers, R. H. N., and J. L. P. Lobao Tello. 1976. Check list and atlas of the mammals of Mozambique. Museum Memoir, National Museums and Monuments of Rhodesia, Salisbury, 8: 1 - 184.

St. Leger, J. 1930. On two species of Dendromus. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, ser. 10, 6: 622.

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Rodentia

Family

Nesomyidae

SubFamily

Dendromurinae

Genus

Dendromus