Paraxerus flavovittis (Peters, 1852)

Denys, Christiane, Lalis, Aude, Lecompte, Émilie, Cornette, Raphaël, Moulin, Sibyle, Makundi, Rhodes H., Machang, Robert S., Volobouev, Vitaly & Aniskine, Vladimir M., 2011, A faunal survey in Kingu Pira (south Tanzania), with new karyotypes of several small mammals and the description of a new Murid species (Mammalia, Rodentia), Zoosystema 33 (1), pp. 5-47 : 36-38

Paraxerus flavovittis (Peters, 1852)

Sciurus flavovittis Peter, 1852: 274 .

One individual was trapped in Line G (open dry woodland). This individual exhibits the typical brown

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yellow dorsal pelage and displays a white stripe on the flanks which identifies it as P. flavovittis Peters, 1852 rather than P.cepapi Smith, 1836 or P.ochraceus Huet, 1880 , which also live in the region. It is also different from the red-bellied coast squirrel P.palliatus Peters, 1852 , that is found in the coastal forests of Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique. Kingdon (1974) described intermediate forms between Paraxerus cepapi , a typical squirrel of the southern savannas and miombo woodlands occurring between the Rufiji river and east of lake Malawi, and P. palliatus , which he interpreted as a hybridization zone between the two species. Similarly,he indicates that Paraxerus flavovittis is common in all habitats between Rufiji and Rovuma rivers, but very rare in the north of Tanzania and is not known in the south of Mozambique.

A comparison of external and skull dimensions shows that our specimen fits well with the Tanzanian P.flavovittis specimens and the latter species is smaller than P. palliatus and P. ochraceus . Paraxerus flavovittis has a longer tooth row than P. palliatus and rounder, larger tympanic bullae ( Table 19), but the size range of these two species are not well documented.

The standard karyotype of P. flavovittis (2n = 38) consists in 19 pairs, which, except one pair of acrocentric autosomes, are bi-armed, thus giving FNa = 70 ( Fig. 21 ). To our knowledge, it is the first description of karyotype in the genus Paraxerus .

Figures

FIG. 21. — Standard karyotype of KP Paraxerus flavovittis (Peters, 1852) specimen (MNHN-CG2007-1236).