Lemniscomys griselda rosalia Thomas, 1904: 414
Lemniscomys
L. zebra Heuglin, 1864
L. griselda Thomas, 1904
L. rosalia Thomas, 1904
L. griselda
L. zebra
L. rosalia
L. striatus Linnaeus, 1758
L. rosalia
L. calidior Thomas & Wroughton, 1908
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)
Denys, Christiane
Lalis, Aude
Lecompte, Émilie
Cornette, Raphaël
Moulin, Sibyle
Makundi, Rhodes H.
Machang, Robert S.
Volobouev, Vitaly
Aniskine, Vladimir M.
Zoosystema
2011
2011-03-31
33
1
5
47
3T4V3
Thomas, 1904
Thomas
1904
[188,571,1324,1352]
Mammalia
Muridae
Lemniscomys
Animalia
Rodentia
11
16
Chordata
species
rosalia
Lemniscomys griselda rosaliaThomas, 1904: 414. The single-striped mouse of the genus Lemniscomysfound in fallow bush and degraded woodlands in KP displays only one dark median band on a yellow bright pelage which identifies it as a member of the species complex including L. zebraHeuglin, 1864, L. griseldaThomas, 1904and L. rosaliaThomas, 1904. Van der Straeten (1980)has separated several species within this complex on a morphometric basis, and L. griseldais only known from Angola, Zambia, and DRC( Wilson & Reeder 2005). Cytogenetic studies have shown that three species coexist in Tanzania: L. zebra, L. rosaliaand L. striatusLinnaeus, 1758( Fadda et al.2001; Castiglia et al. 2002a; Corti et al.2005). On a cytogenetic basis, Castiglia et al. (2002a)proposed without justification to rename the South African representatives of L. rosaliainto L. calidiorThomas & Wroughton, 1908, a decision that was not validated by Wilson & Reeder (2005).
By their general size and morphology the KP specimens are closer to the other Tanzanian specimens of L. rosaliafrom Berega ( Tanzania) than to the South African specimens of Tembe Elephant Park, especially in the ear size and both populations may belong to distinct taxonomic units ( Table 8). Karyological data provide a 2n = 54, FNa = 62 for the two specimens of KP ( Fig. 7) and these values do not correspond to L. rosaliafrom Tembe ( South Africa) (2n = 48, FNa = 62) described by Ducroz et al. (1999)or L. zebra( Fadda et al.2001; Castiglia et al.2002a; Corti et al. 2005) from Tanzania(2n = 54, FNa=58). But this karyotype corresponds to L. rosaliafrom Tanzaniadescribed by Castiglia et al. (2002a), Corti et al. (2005)and by Fadda et al.(2001)in northern Tanzania( Table 9). Because the typelocality of L. rosaliais Nguru Mts, Monda ( Tanzania), we agree with Castiglia et al.(2002a)that the South African specimens called L. rosaliamay represent a different species, 19 20 XX FIG. 6. — Standard karyotype of KP Pelomys fallaxPeters, 1852specimen (MNHN-CG2007-1247). 24 25 26 XX FIG. 7. — Standard karyotype of KP Lemniscomys rosaliaThomas, 1904specimen (MNHN-CG2007-1206). but without a careful examination of the typespecimens of the various synonyms of L. griseldaor of L. roseveari Van der Straeten, 1980from Zambia, we cannot here name the Kwazulu Natal karyotypic form described by Ducroz et al.(1999). We cannot follow the nomenclatural proposal of Castiglia et al.(2002a)and Corti et al.(2005)because the typespecimen of L. calidior(Thomas & Wroughton, 1908)came from Mozambiqueand not from South Africa. Similarly, these authors propose to give the name L. zebrafor a given Tanzanian karyotype without any morphological or geographical justification (the oldest described?). Lemniscomys zebrawas described from the Bahr el Ghazal ( Sudan), which corresponds to a very different region and a distant one from Tanzania. Moreover, there are other available names from old descriptions of the L. griseldacomplex and pending their revision we will not propose synonymies for the South African and north Tanzanian forms. TABLE 6.— Measurements (in millimetres) of the standard external characters of Pelomys fallaxPeters,1852specimens.Abbreviations: see Material and methods. Specimen Country HB TL HF E ZMB 1675 Holotype Mozambique 24+ MNHN-CG2007-1247 Tanzania 123.5 128.5 29 17 BMNH 84.1794 Tanzania 158 151+ 31 21 SMM4256 Tanzania 165 140 35 15 SMM5498 Angola 152 152 29 19 SMM5453 Angola 129 142 28 17 SMM5458 Angola 131 136 28 16 SMM5468 Angola 130 154 30 17 SMM5469 Angola 141 150 30 18 SMM5470 Angola 144 141 29 18 SMM5471 Angola 136 146 30 18 SMM5457 Angola 133 142 29 21 TABLE 7. — Skull measurements (in millimetres) of Pelomys fallaxPeters, 1852specimens from different museums. Abbreviations: see Material and methods. Specimen Country, District LGT WZYG CIO WNAS LNAS WBR LS13 LBT LMDB HMD LI13 ZMB 1675 Holotype S Mozambique 15.30 4.80 6.60 6.38 MNHN-CG2007- 1247 TZ, KP 31.68 15.90 5.41 4.62 12.06 13.98 6.56 6.14 20.92 10.21 6.48 BMNH 34.8.26.6 TZ 33.43 15.68 4.43 13.68 13.80 6.63 6.25 20.99 10.71 6.49 BMNH 84.1794 TZ, Morogoro 36.05 16.73 5.70 4.77 13.44 13.17 6.76 6.11 22.2 11.87 6.52 BMNH 33.10.1.190 TZ, Uluguru Mtns 34.82 17.25 5.55 5.73 14.05 13.76 6.54 6.31 22.36 11.61 6.21 ZMBA48.09 TZ. Rugege wald 37.65 17.16 14.15 5.18 4.96 14.24 7.78 5.45 24.41 12.58 7.65 SMM5472 Angola 34.40 15.29 13.00 5.04 5.09 13.62 6.30 6.27 21.68 11.46 6.07 SMM5469 Angola 34.54 16.23 13.20 5.39 5.44 14.45 6.14 6.03 21.79 11.50 5.71 SMM5468 Angola 33.73 16.41 12.68 5.48 5.35 14.30 6.00 5.80 21.29 10.75 5.70 SMM5415 Angola 34.44 16.62 12.70 5.67 5.31 14.73 6.03 6.16 22.58 11.38 5.90 TM8632 Zimbabwe 36.33 17.68 14.19 4.69 5.61 13.30 6.68 6.03 22.92 11.79 6.66 TM180 Zambia 36.42 17.45 14.04 4.63 5.66 13.67 6.81 6.43 6.67 TABLE 8. — External standard measurements (in millimetres) of KP Lemniscomys rosaliaThomas,1904,compared with other karyotyped Tanzanian and South African specimens. Abbreviations: see Material and methods. Specimen HB TL HF E Locality/Country MNHN-CG2007-1206 131 140 27.5 16.5 TZ, KP MNHN-CG2007-1254 117 68+ 26 17 TZ, KP MNHN-CG1998-1610 120 125 24.9 15.5 TZ, Berega MNHN-CG1998-1609 130 152 24.3 15.8 TZ, Berega MNHN-CG1996-569 138 126 28 19 RSA, Tembe MNHN-CG1999-19 135 80+ 25.2 19 RSA, Tembe Consequently, here we attribute the Selous specimen to L. rosalia s.s.due to its geographical proximity with the holotype, pending a further revision of this taxon.