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HOME --> CLASS MAMMALIA
--> ORDER RODENTIA
--> SUBORDER SCIUROMORPHA
--> FAMILY Gliridae
--> SUBFAMILY Graphiurinae
--> GENUS Graphiurus
--> SUBGENUS Graphiurus
SPECIES Graphiurus (Graphiurus) ocularis
| Author: | Smith, 1829. | | Citation: | Zool. J., 4: 439. | | Common Name: | Spectacled African Dormouse | | Type Locality: | South Africa, Western Cape Prov., near Plettenberg Bay | | Distribution: | South Africa, Eastern, Northern and Western Cape Provinces (Channing, 1984; de Graaff, 1991; Roberts, 1951; Smithers, 1983). | | Status: | IUCN – Lower Risk (lc). | | Comments: | Subgenus Graphiurus. Other historical distributional records for G. ocularis are questionable. Lorenz (1894) recorded a specimen from Linokana (Dinokana), northwest of Zeerust, North West Province, although no other specimen has ever been taken from this region (see Rautenbach, 1982). The Linokana specimen is missing from the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, where most of the Lorenz collection is housed (B. Herzig, pers.comm.), so unfortunately the historical occurrence of the Spectacled African Dormouse as far north as the Zeerust region cannot be verified; possibly the specimen represented either G. platyops or G. microtis and was misidentified as G. ocularis. An example of G. ocularis recorded from Damaraland, Namibia (type specimen of G. elegans) may have come from Namaqualand, South Africa; the occurrence of G. ocularis north of the Orange River is doubtful (see Thomas, 1926e for discussion). Though Roberts (1951) and Ellerman et al. (1953) included [Orange] Free State in the distribution of this species, Lynch (1983) stated that it has not been collected in the province. It is doubtful that G. ocularis occurs in KwaZulu-Natal, though its range may have historically included the province (Taylor 1998). See comments under G. monardi regarding a specimen reported from Dilolo, Dem. Rep. Congo, and discussion under G. angolensis covering a specimen reported from Parc National de l’Upemba, Dem. Rep. Congo. Comparative ecological data reported by Channing (1984, 1987, 1997) and Van Hensbergen and Channing (1989). Reviewed by Rossolimo et al. (2001) and Holden (In Press). |
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| Offspring: | Synonyms:
capensis (Cuvier, 1829)
elegans Ogilby, 1838
typicus Smith, 1834
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