Dasymys Peters, 1875

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 : 636

Genus Dasymys Peters, 1875

( Tables 7 ; 8 )

REMARKS

For a long time only one species of Dasymys was recognized and as a result all the West African specimens collected on previous expeditions bear the name D. incomtus ( Heim de Balsac & Lamotte 1958; Rosevear 1969). A revision of the genus by Carleton & Martinez (1991) rehabilitated the species Dasymys rufulus for the West African population, while the name D. incomtus holds for South and East African populations. D. rufulus has been described from Mount Coffee, Liberia. The specimens from Seredou described by Roche (1971) are morphologically similar to those collected by Heim de Balsac & Lamotte (1958) in Ziela and Yomou labelled D. i. rufulus , as well as to our specimens. Gautun et al. (1986) did not collect this species, while Coe (1975) and Misonne & Verschuren (1976) collected additional specimens on the Liberian side of Mount Nimba. A morphometric geometric analysis showed that the D. rufulus complex is characterized by five morphs that could represent valid cryptic species ( Mullin et al. 2004). Two new specimens were collected at Mount Nimba during the Guinean survey. We performed a molecular blast on one Guinean specimen that fit well with other D. rufulus Genbank specimens PX354163 (cf. Appendices).