| Oenomys Temporal range: Late Pliocene to Recent | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Oenomys hypoxanthus | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Muridae |
| Tribe: | Arvicanthini |
| Genus: | Oenomys Thomas, 1904 |
| Type species | |
| Mus hypoxanthus | |
| Species | |
See text | |
Oenomys is a genus of African rodents known as rufous-nosed rats. [1] They occur from south-east Guinea and Ghana through the Congo forest to Uganda and Kenya. [2] The nose is reddish, or at least the cheeks, which suggested both the English and scientific names (oeno- means "wine" and -mys denotes a mouselike animal in Greek). [3] [4]
The two recognised, living species occupy separate geographical ranges:
- Oenomys hypoxanthus (Pucheran, 1855), common rufous-noded rat
- Oenomys hypoxanthus albiventris (Eisentraut, 1968), a montane subspecies [5]
- Oenomys ornatus (Thomas, 1911), Ghana rufous-nosed rat
- † Oenomys tiercelini [6]
