Striped grass mouse

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Striped grass mouse
Temporal range: Late Pliocene to Recent
Lemniscomys barbarus01.JPG
Barbary striped grass mouse (Lemniscomys barbarus)
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Muridae
Tribe: Arvicanthini
Genus: Lemniscomys
Trouessart, 1881
Type species
Mus barbarus
Species

11, see text

Lemniscomys, sometimes known as striped grass mice or zebra mice, is a genus of murine rodents from Africa. Most species are from Sub-Saharan Africa; L. barbarus is the only one found north of the Sahara. [1] They are generally found in grassy habitats, but where several species overlap in distribution there is a level of habitat differentiation between them. [1]

Contents

They are 18.5–29 cm (7.3–11.4 in) long, of which about half is tail, and weigh 18–70 g (0.63–2.47 oz). [1] The pelage pattern of the species fall into three main groups: The "true" zebra mice with distinct dark and pale stripes (L. barbarus, L. hoogstraali and L. zebra ), the spotted grass mice with more spotty/interrupted stripes ( L. bellieri , L. macculus , L. mittendorfi and L. striatus ), and the single-striped grass mice with only a single dark stripe along the back ( L. griselda , L. linulus , L. rosalia and L. roseveari ). [2] [3]

They are generally considered diurnal, but at least some species can be active during the night. [3] They feed on plants, but sometimes take insects. [1] There are up to 12 young per litter, but 4–5 is more common. [3] The average life expectancy is very short, in the wild often only a year, but a captive L. striatus lived for almost 5 years. [3] A more typical captive life expectancy is 2–2½ years. [4]

While most are common and not threatened, L. mittendorfi is restricted to Mount Oku and considered Vulnerable by the IUCN. [5] L. hoogstraali and L. roseveari are both very poorly known, leading to their rating as Data Deficient. [6] [7] Some of the widespread species are regularly kept in captivity, especially L. barbarus, L. striatus and L. zebra. [4]

Systematics

The etymology of the genus name Lemniscomys derives from the two ancient greek words λημνίσκος (lēmnískos), meaning "stripe, ribbon", and μῦς (mûs), meaning "mouse, rat", [8] [9] and refers to the pelage pattern.

Lemniscomys currently includes 11 species. [10] Until 1997, L. zebra was generally treated as a subspecies of L. barbarus. [2] It is possible L. striatus and L. zebra, as presently defined, actually are species complexes. [11] [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Typical striped grass mouse</span> Species of rodent

The typical striped grass mouse is a small rodent of the suborder Myomorpha in the family Muridae.

Griselda's lemniscomys or Griselda's striped grass mouse is a species of rodent in the family Muridae.

Hoogstraal's lemniscomys or Hoogstraal's striped grass mouse is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is known only from the type specimen collected in 1961 at Paloich, north of Niayok, South Sudan.

Lemniscomys linulus, commonly known as the Senegal grass mouse or Senegal one-striped grass mouse, is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found in Ivory Coast, Guinea, Mali, and Senegal and its natural habitat is dry savanna. At one time considered to be a subspecies of Lemniscomys griselda, it is now accepted as a species in its own right.

The Buffoon lemniscomys or Buffoon striped grass mouse is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, Uganda, and possibly Rwanda. Its natural habitats are moist savannah and subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland.

Mittendorf's lemniscomys or Mittendorf's striped grass mouse is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is endemic to Cameroon where it is found at high elevations on a single mountain. Its natural habitat is tropical high-altitude grassland. It faces no particular threats and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed it as being of "least concern".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Single-striped grass mouse</span> Species of rodent

The single-striped grass mouse or single-striped lemniscomys is a species of rodent in the family Muridae.

Rosevear's lemniscomys or Rosevear's striped grass mouse is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found in Zambia and possibly Angola, where its natural habitat is cryptosephalum dry forest. The species is threatened by habitat loss.

Heuglin's lemniscomys or Heuglin's striped grass mouse is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found in Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and possibly Ethiopia. Its natural habitats are moist savanna, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, arable land, and plantations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbary striped grass mouse</span> Species of rodent

The Barbary striped grass mouse is a small rodent of the suborder Myomorpha. This monotypic species is native to coastal Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia in northwest Africa. In the past it was believed to also occur throughout a large part of Sub-Saharan Africa, but these populations are now treated as a separate species, the Heuglin's striped grass mouse. These relatively small Lemniscomys are among the species most commonly kept in captivity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arvicanthini</span>

Arvicanthini is a tribe of muroid rodents in the subfamily Murinae. Almost all recent species in this tribe are or were found in Africa aside from one species, the Indian bush rat, which is found in South Asia and Iran. However, some fossil Golunda species from India and the genus Parapelomys are thought to have also occurred outside Africa, and one species in the fossil genus Saidomys may have also occurred in Afghanistan.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Kingdon, J. (1997). The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals. pp. 212-213. ISBN   0-12-408355-2
  2. 1 2 Carleton, M D., and Van der Straeten, E. (1997). Morphological differentiation among Subsaharan and north African populations of the Lemniscomys barbarus complex (Rodentia : Muridae). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 110(4): 640-680.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Novak, R. M., editor (1999). Walker's Mammals of the World. Vol. 2. 6th edition. pp. 1596-1597. ISBN   0-8018-5789-9
  4. 1 2 Tofts, Russel. Striped Mouse. Archived September 6, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ van der Straeten, E. (2008). "Lemniscomys mittendorfi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2008: e.T11486A3284110. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T11486A3284110.en . Retrieved 26 December 2017.
  6. ↑ van der Straeten, E. (2008). "Lemniscomys hoogstraali". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2008. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  7. ↑ van der Straeten, E. (2008). "Lemniscomys roseveari". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2008. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  8. ↑ Bailly, Anatole (1981-01-01). Abrégé du dictionnaire grec français. Paris: Hachette. ISBN   2010035283. OCLC   461974285.
  9. ↑ Bailly, Anatole. "Greek-french dictionary online". www.tabularium.be. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  10. ↑ Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M., eds. (2005). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN   978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC   62265494.
  11. ↑ van der Straeten, E. (2008). "Lemniscomys striatus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2008. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  12. ↑ van der Straeten, E. (2008). "Lemniscomys zebra". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2008. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
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