Dendromus oreas Osgood, 1936

Guy G. Musser & Michael D. Carleton, 1993, Order Rodentia - Family Muridae, Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition), Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 501-755 : 543

Dendromus oreas Osgood, 1936 . Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Zool. Ser., 20:236.

TYPE LOCALITY: Cameroon, Southwest Prov., southwest side of Mt. Cameroon, 9000 ft .

DISTRIBUTION: Possibly endemic to mountains of extreme E Cameroon in the Southest Prov.; recorded from Mt. Cameroon and Mt. Kupe and Mt. Manenguba in the massif about 70 mi northeast of Mt. Cameroon ( Osgood, 1936; Rosevear, 1969).

COMMENTS: Although originally described by Osgood (1936) as a distinct species, oreas was later included in D. mesomelas ( Bohmann, 1942; Rosevear, 1969; Misonne, 1974). Our study of the holotype supports Osgood's (1936) view that oreas may be related to D. lunaris (= kivu ), but is not a geographic sample of D. insignis . Judged from the wide range in length of upper molar row that Rosevear (1969:472) recorded for oreas , his Cameroon sample is either extremely variable, which is unusual in this group, or consists of two species.