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SPECIES Micaelamys namaquensis

Author:A. Smith, 1834.
Citation:S. Afr. Quart. J., 2: 160.
Common Name:Namaqua Micaelamys
Type Locality:South Africa, S Western Cape Province, Little Namaqualand, Cape of Good Hope (restricted to Witwater by Shortridge, 1942).
Distribution:E Angola (Crawford-Cabral, 1998), South Africa (except parts of Western, Northern, and Eastern Cape provinces, coastal KwaZulu-Natal Province, and Namib Desert; de Graaff, 1997v; Taylor, 1998), Botswana, Zimbabwe, S and C Mozambique (absent from central and coastal regions), S Malawi, and SE Zambia. Range abstracted from Skinner and Smithers (1990:278) and Chimimba et al. (1999:507).
Status:IUCN – Lower Risk (lc) as Aethomys namaquensis.
Comments:Originally described as a species of Gerbillus (Gerbillinae), subsequently treated as a species of Aethomys (G. M. Allen, 1939), Thallomys (Ellerman, 1941) or Rattus in subgenus Praomys (Ellerman et al., 1953). There is appreciable variation in body size and pelage coloration among geographic samples, but past systematic studies do not recognize subspecies or significant clinal patterns of variation (Chimimba, 1998; Chimimba et al., 1999). A recent intraspecific morphometric analysis across a more comprehensive geographic region in southern Africa suggested recognition of four subspecies (Chimimba, 2001a) in which distributional limits coincide with major phytogeographical zones. Integrity of these subspecific units, however, requires independent testing with molecular data. Non-geographic variation due to sex and age reported by Chimimba and Dippenaar (1994). Of all the species of either Micaelamys or even Aethomys, M. namaquensis has the most extensive geographic distribution and is sympatric with all the other species of Aethomys and Micaelamys occurring in the Southern African Subregion (Chimimba et al., 1999). Reviewed by Meester et al. (1986), Skinner and Smithers (1990), Chimimba (1998), Chimimba et al.(1999), and de Graaff (1997v).
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Offspring:

Synonyms:

    arborarius Peters, 1852
    auricomis De Winton, 1897
    avarillus Thomas and Wroughton, 1908
    avunculus (Thomas, 1904)
    calarius Thomas, 1926
    capensis Roberts, 1926
    centralis Schwann, 1906
    drakensbergi Roberts, 1926
    epupae Von Lehmann, 1975
    grahami Roberts, 1915
    klaverensis Roberts, 1926
    lechochloides Roberts, 1926
    lehocla A. Smith, 1836
    longicaudatus Von Lehmann, 1955
    monticularis Jameson, 1909
    namibensis Roberts, 1946
    phippsi Hill and Carter, 1937
    siccatus Thomas, 1926
    waterbergensis Roberts, 1938

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