Mammal Species of the World Logo

 

HOME --> CLASS MAMMALIA  --> ORDER RODENTIA  --> SUBORDER MYOMORPHA  --> SUPERFAMILY Muroidea  --> FAMILY Nesomyidae  --> SUBFAMILY Petromyscinae  --> GENUS Petromyscus

SPECIES Petromyscus shortridgei

Author:Thomas, 1926.
Citation:Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1926: 302.
Common Name:Shortridge’s Pygmy Rock Mouse
Type Locality:Extreme S Angola, Ruacana Falls, 3350 ft (1021 m).
Distribution:W and S Angola and N Namibia (S to Erongo Mtns and Okahandja region); limits unknown.
Status:IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).
Comments:Reviewed by Skinner and Smithers (1990) and de Graaff (1997ll). Roberts (1951) treated shortridgei as a subspecies of P. bruchus, and Meester et al. (1986) listed it as a subspecies of P. collinus. However, Thomas’ species description correctly expressed the distinctness of the animal; also see Schlitter (in Meester et al., 1986) and Skinner and Smithers (1990). The larger size of P. shortridgei, darker fur with a less silky texture, and lack of postaxillary teats clearly separate it from P. collinus, a judgement based upon AMNH and FMNH specimens, which also inform our estimate of its geographic range. Crawford-Cabral (1998) recorded P. shortridgei only from the vicinity of Ruacana Falls, S Angola near the Namibia border, and speculated that the specimen (AMNH 81915) from farther north at Coporolo represented P. collinus. External and cranial morphology of the Coporolo specimen falls within the range of variation in P. shortridgei (as identified by Hill and Carter, 1941:104), not P. collinus. The two species overlap in distribution in SW Angola and N Namibia but have not been collected at the same place.
EXPORT AS CSV Back to search results

Offspring:

Synonyms:


  Bucknell Home Page   Biology Department Home Page

 

©Bucknell Univesity All Rights Reserved
Comments and questions to dreeder@bucknell.edu