MURIDAE Illiger, 1811

Amori, Giovanni, Segniagbeto, Gabriel Hoinsoude, Decher, Jan, Assou, Delagnon, Gippoliti, Spartaco & Luiselli, Luca, 2016, Non-marine mammals of Togo (West Africa): an annotated checklist, Zoosystema 38 (2), pp. 201-244 : 226-227

Family MURIDAE Illiger, 1811

Acomys johannis Thomas, 1912 ▶

VOUCHERS AND REMARK. — Formerly considered a subspecies of Acomys cineraceus Heuglin, 1877 . Thirty-nine specimens from Dapaong are currently stored in the NMNH and there are six specimens from Namoundjoga at MRAC, all previously published by Robbins & Van der Straeten (1996) under the name A. cahirinus johannis Thomas, 1912 . This is a species complex with at least two distinct karyotypes (Barome et al. 2000, Monadjem et al. 2015 for a review)

Arvicanthis niloticus (E. Geoffroy, 1803) ▶

HISTORICAL LITERATURE AND VOUCHERS. — Ninety-one specimens collected by the African Mammal Project at Dapaong, Ezimé, Padori, Pagala, and Pewa, are currently listed under A. niloticus in the NMNH database. Another voucher coming from Namoundjoga, is stored in the MRAC. Robbins & Van der Straeten (1996) listed 173 specimens from Togo, some of which probably included the following species, A. rufinus (Temminck, 1853) .

Arvicanthis rufinus (Temminck, 1853) ▶*

VOUCHERS. — Vouchers of this species, collected from Agou, Aledjo, Togoville, and Apeyeme, are stored at MRAC.

Dasymys rufulus Miller, 1900 ▶*

VOUCHERS. — Several specimens, captured at Dapaong, Ezimé, Padori, and Pewa are currently stored in the NMNH. Another voucher from Apéyémé is stored in the MRAC and two specimens from Kpalimé are stored under the old name D. incomtus (Sundevall, 1847) at MNHN.

Gerbilliscus guineae (Thomas, 1910) ▶

HISTORICAL LITERATURE AND VOUCHERS. — Three vouchers from Namoundjoga are stored in the MRAC and were previously published as ( Robbins & Van der Straeten 1996).

Gerbilliscus kempi (Wroughton, 1906) ▶

VOUCHERS. — Several vouchers from Atchou, Aledjo, Binaparpa, Fazao, Namoundjoga, Tetetou, Kolokpé, Padori, and Pagala and Togoville are stored in the MRAC, under the old name Tatera kempi Wroughton, 1906 . However, all Togo specimens in the NMNH database are currently just listed as Gerbilliscus sp.

Grammomys kuru (Thomas & Wroughton, 1907) ▶

HISTORICAL LITERATURE AND VOUCHERS. — A voucher, originarily identified as Grammomys rutilans (Peters, 1876) [synonym of G. poensis (Eisentraut, 1965) , synonym of G. kuru )], was collected at Agou, and is presently stored at NMNH. Several specimens, identified as G. poensis and also captured at Agou, are also currently stored in the NMNH. Musser & Carleton (2005) and Monadjem et al. (2015) limited G. kuru to Central Africa and instead resurrected G. poensis (including unspecified localities in central Togo) for West Africa, whereas Happold (2013b) used G. kuru for specimens from both sides of the Dahomey Gap. The MNHN listed one G. buntingi (Thomas, 1911) from Kpalimé, but G. buntingi is actually limited to the Upper Guinea Region West of the Dahomey Gap ( Musser & Carleton 2005, Monadjem et al. 2015). Only a re-examination of the museum specimens can resolve this issue.

Hylomyscus alleni (Waterhouse, 1838) ▶

VOUCHERS. — 65 specimens, captured at Agou are curently listed under this name in the NMNH collection and additional ones from Misahohe at MRAC. Seven specimens are listed in the MNHN database from Kpalimé, as well as Atigbe Yoh and Agomé Yoh, both near Kpalimé.

REMARKS

According to Monadjem et al. (2015) all West African Hylomyscus Thomas, 1926 , West of the Niger river should be assigned either to Hylomyscus simus G. M. Allen & Coolidge, 1930 (Upper Guinea) or H. pamfi ( Nicolas, Olayemi, Wendelen & Colyn, 2010) ( Dahomey Gap); H. alleni should be limited to Central Africa.

The taxonomy of this species group has been neatly worked out by Nicolas et al. (2010b) and it appears clear that H. alleni is not present in West Africa. Furthermore, H. simus occurs West of the Dahomey Gap and based on molecular work has not been recorded from Togo. Therefore this species should probably be deleted from the list of confirmed Togolese species and presented under H. pamfi , which is currently the only known Hylomyscus from Togo (see below).