Euxerus Thomas, 1909

Denys, Christiane, Missoup, Alain Didier, Nicolas, Violaine, Sylla, Morlaye, Douno, Mory, Kadjo, Blaise, Lalis, Aude & Monadjem, Ara, 2025, Annotated checklist of rodents from a biodiversity hotspot, Mount Nimba (West Africa), Zoosystema 47 (27), pp. 617-689 : 656

Genus Euxerus Thomas, 1909

( Tables 11 ; 12 )

REMARKS

The species initially described as Sciurus erythropus E. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1803 was placed into Euxerus Thomas, 1909 by Rosevear (1969). Various revisions then placed Euxerus as a subgenus of Xerus until recent rehabilitation by Krystufek et al. (2016) following molecular analyses. The genus is abundant and easily observed both on the Guinean and Liberian slopes of Mount Nimba. We did not captured any specimens in our recent surveys but Lamotte and collaborators found it on the Guinean Mount Nimba and in Ziela. Coe (1975) reported the common presence of the species, which he named E. erythropus maestus Thomas, 1910 . Euxerus e. maestus holotype comes from Daru in Sierra Leone. Rosevear (1969) indicated that Euxerus e. microdon Thomas, 1905 which was described from Kitui, Kenya, is distributed in Guinean woodlands from Senegal to Kenya. But, in the absence of revision of this species we cannot assign our Nimba specimens either to E. e. maestus or to E. e. microdon. Roche (1971) also recorded the subspecies E. e. maestus from Seredou ( Guinea) and Misonne & Verschuren (1976) collected a single male from the basis of Liberian Nimba. At NMK one can find one specimen from Nimba (NMK 434). On the Guinean side, E. erythropus was seen on the Gouan camp road at 1200 m on 28 February 2008 in the morning, in the gallery forest/ Protea Savannah ecotone. Coe (1975) indicated this squirrel to be present along track sides, farms and in grassland outliers and this author suggested the species benefited from anthropogenic activities and that it is not a true forest-dwelling species. Misonne & Verschuren (1976) observed it regularly on the road between Yekepa and Grassfield. During the Liberian surveys A. M. recorded sightings at TMF, and ENNR regularly around Yekepa, especially in the farming communities. In 2022 it was observed between Gbarpa and Camp4 by A. M. According to Bene et al. (2013) this species was found regularly sold as bushmeat in the markets and restaurants of Yekepa and Saniquellie. The species was found hunted in Gbakoré, Séringbara and Zouguépo on the Guinean side of the Mount ( Dufour 2006).

The pelage of this squirrel is coarse and brittle with brown dorsal color. Two white lateral stripes are well visible. The belly and throat are white. The limbs are a pale fawn above. The ears are bare with very short pale buff hairs and a small white patch below the eyes. The tail length is shorter than HB and the hairs are long, black and white and there is no terminal tuft. The standard external measurements are provided in Table 11 . The skull is long and narrow compared to other West African squirrels. The rostrum is relatively long and not domed. The postorbital process is small and situated at the back of the interorbital constriction and there is a small notch in the supraorbital crest. The incisors are orange and opistodonth. In ventral view one can see a strong masseteric knob, a tiny P3/ and a relatively large upper tooth row. The tympanic bullae are large and inflated, the palate extends behind the molar rows (see also Herron & Watermann 2004). The skull dimensions are provided in Table 12 .