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HOME --> CLASS MAMMALIA
--> ORDER RODENTIA
--> SUBORDER MYOMORPHA
--> SUPERFAMILY Muroidea
--> FAMILY Spalacidae
--> SUBFAMILY Tachyoryctinae
--> GENUS Tachyoryctes
SPECIES Tachyoryctes splendens
| Author: | Rüppell, 1835. | | Citation: | Neue wirbelt. Fauna Abyssin. Gehörig., Säugeth., 1: 36. | | Common Name: | Northeast African Mole Rat | | Type Locality: | Ethiopia, Dembea Prov., Gondar. | | Distribution: | Ethiopia (500-3900 m; Rupp, 1980), Somalia, and NW Kenya; limits unresolved. | | Status: | IUCN – Lower Risk (lc). | | Comments: | Yalden et al. (1976:57) claimed that the synonyms listed here clearly apply to one species, but conceded that "The possibility of distinct races associated with different mountain blocks, or of a cline in size with altitude, remains to be properly examined." Osgood (1936) noted that two species, splendens and cheesemani, could be recognized among the Ethiopian samples he examined, and Bekele could distinguish samples of the two by morphometric traits but found that gallarum was intermediate. Early records indicated that T. splendens reached 3900 m in the Bale Mtns (Yalden et al., 1976), but Yalden et al. (1995) observed that "neither the live animal nor its burrows have ever been observed above 3200" and that predators may have carried the specimens (mainly extracted from owl pellets) from lower elevations. Chromosomal characteristics of an Ethiopian sample (2n = 48, FN = 62) documented and contrasted with other rhizomyine samples by Baskevich et al. (1992, 1993). Distribution in the isolated Harenna Forest of S Ethiopia documented by Lavrenchenko (2000). |
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| Offspring: | Synonyms:
canicaudus Osgood, 1936
cheesmani Thomas, 1928
gallarum Osgood, 1936
omensis Neumann and Rümmler, 1928
pontifex Neumann and Rümmler, 1928
somalicus Osgood, 1910
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