Otomys occidentalis Dieterlen & Van der Straeten, 1992

Denys, Christiane, Missoup, Alain Didier, Nicolas, Violaine, Fülling, Olaf, Delapré, Arnaud, Bilong, Charles Felix Bilong, Taylor, Peter John J. & Hutterer, Rainer, 2014, African highlands as mammal diversity hotspots: new records of Lamottemys okuensis Petter, 1986 (Rodentia: Muridae) and other endemic rodents from Mt Oku, Cameroon, Zoosystema 36 (3), pp. 647-690 : 670

Otomys occidentalis Dieterlen & Van der Straeten, 1992

Otomys occidentalis Dieterlen & Van der Straeten, 1992: 386 .

TYPE LOCALITY. — Nigeria, Gotel Mtns, Chappal Waddi.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — MNHN: 1980-60, 1981-1370 (described in Petter 1982), 2011-977 to 2011-988, 2013-87 to 2013-120.

ZFMK: 69.218.

ZFMK: Fülling collection: 91.227 to 91.229.

ZFMK: Lake Oku cave owl pellets: 91.136-8, 91.140-170.

Morphological characters

The newly trapped specimens display the typical Otomys laminated tooth pattern. The females have 0 + 1 mammae. On the molars we observe the presence of five laminae on M/1, the deeply grooved incisors (one striation 1/1) and a 7-8 laminae pattern in the upper M3. But, based on their morphology and external measurements ( Table 6), we assigned the new samples to the endemic O. occidentalis species. This was confirmed in a molecular and morphometrical revision of the 5 laminae species complex ( Taylor et al. 2014).