Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 1318 No. 1: 21 Sept. 2006
Type: Articles
Published: 2006-09-21
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.1318.1.3
Page range: 59–68
Abstract views: 97
PDF downloaded: 3

First record of the Dollman’s tree mouse (Prionomys batesi; Mammalia: Nesomyidae) in the Republic of Congo and additional description of this rare Central African rodent

Laboratoire Mammifères et Oiseaux, UMR 5202 Origine, structure et Evolution de la Biodiversité, USM 601, Département de Systématique et Evolution, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, CP 51-55 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France
CNRS, UMR 6553, Université de Rennes 1, Station Biologique, 35380 Paimpont, France
Laboratoire Mammifères et Oiseaux, UMR 5202 Origine, structure et Evolution de la Biodiversité, USM 601, Département de Systématique et Evolution, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, CP 51-55 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France
Mammalia Prionomys Dendromurinae Biogeography Morphometry Africa Rodentia

Abstract

We present new data on the poorly known rodent Prionomys batesi Dollman, 1910. Recently, five specimens of this species were collected in Odzala National Park, which represent the first record of this species in Republic of Congo. These new captures, combined with the preparation of 15 specimens from Central African Republic allowed us to complete the morphological description of the species as well as, for the first time, to document intraspecific variability. This species is actually known from three countries (Cameroon, Central African Republic and Republic of Congo) and four localities (Bitye, Obala, La Maboké and Odzala). It seems to be restricted to areas of forest-savannah mosaic where the forest is actually colonising the savannah.

References

  1. Belshaw, R. & Bolton, B. (1994) A survey of the leaf litter ant fauna in Ghana, West Africa (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Journal of Hymenoptera Research, 3, 5–16.

    Booker, R.H. (1968) A list of insects and spiders associated with cacao (Theobroma cacao) in a plantation in Western Nigeria. Nigerian Entomologist's Magazine, 1, 80–86.

    Colyn, M. & Deleporte, P. (2002) Biogeographic analysis of Central African forest Guenons. In: Glenn, M. & Cords, M. (Ed.), Multicolored monkeys: diversity and adaptation in the guenons of Africa. Plenum Press, New York, 61–78.

    Dejean, A. & Giberneau, M. (2000) A rainforest ant mosaic: the edge effect (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Sociobiology, 35, 385–401.

    Dejean, A., McKey, D., Giberneau, M. & Belin, M. (2000) The arboreal ant mosaic in a Cameroonian rainforest (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Sociobiology, 35, 403–423.

    Deleporte, P. & Colyn, M. (1999) Biogéographie et dynamique de la biodiversité: application de la "PAE" aux forêts planitiaires d'Afrique centrale. Biosystema, 17, 37–43.

    Denys, C. , Michaux, J., Catzeflis, F., Ducro, S., & Chevret, P. (1995) Morphological and molecular data against the monophyly of Dendromurinae (Muridae : Rodentia). Bonner Zoologische Beitrage, 45, 173–190.

    Dollman, G. (1910) Two new african mammals. Annals of the Magazine of Natutal History, Serie 8, 6, 226–230.

    Foresta, H. (1990) Origine et evolution des savannes intramayombiennes (R.P. du Congo) II. Apports de la botanique forestière. In: Lanfranchi, R. & Schwartz, D. (Ed.), Paysages Quaternaire de l'Afrique Centrale Atlantique. ORSTOM, Paris, 326–335.

    Genest-Villard, H. (1980) Régime alimentaire des rongeurs myomorphes de forêt équatoriale (région de M’baiki, République centrafricaine). Mammalia, 44, 423–484.

    Hamilton, A.C. (1976) The significance of patterns of distribution shown by forest plants and animals in tropical Africa for the reconstruction of upper Pleistocene palaeoenvironments: a review. Paleoecology of Africa, 9, 63–97.

    Hamilton, A.C. (1982) Environmental History of East Africa. Academic Press, London.

    IUCN (2004) 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Available from: http://www.iucnredlist.org/ (15 February 2006).

    Letouzey, R. (1968) Étude Phytogéographique du Cameroun. Encyclopédie Biologique no. 69. Paris: Editions Paul Lechevalier.

    Maley, J. (1991) The African rain forest vegetation and paleoenvironments during the late quaternary. Climatic Change, 19, 79–98.

    Musser, G.G. & Carleton, M.D. (1993) Family Muridae. In: Wilson, D.E. & Reeder, D.M. (Ed.), Mammal species of the world: a taxonomic and geographic reference, 2nd ed. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C., 501–755.

    Musser, G.G. & Carleton, M.D. (2005) Superfamily Muroideae. In: Wilson, D.E. & Reeder, D.M. (Ed.), Mammal species of the world: a taxonomic and geographic reference, 3rd ed. The Johns Hopkins Univeristy Press, Baltimore, 894–1531.

    Petter, F. (1964) Un étrange rongeur de «La Maboké», Prionomys batesi. Science et Nature, 62, 37–38.

    Petter, F. (1966) Dendroprionomys rousseloti gen. nov., sp. nov., rongeur nouveau du Congo (Cricetidae, Dendromurinae). Mammalia, 30, 129–137.

    Petter, F. (1986) Modidindi : une souris pas comme les autres. L’univers du vivant, 15, 99–103.

    Taylor, B. (1977) The ant mosaic on cocoa and other tree crops in Western Nigeria. Ecological Entomology, 2, 245–255.

    Taylor, B. & Adedoyin, S.F. (1978) The abundance and inter-specific relations of common ant species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) on cocoa farms in Western Nigeria. Bulletin of Entomological Research, 68, 105–121.