Micaelamys Ellerman 1941

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Rodentia - Family Muridae, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 2, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 1189-1531 : 1381

Micaelamys Ellerman 1941

Micaelamys Ellerman 1941 , Families and Genera of Living Rodents, Vol. 2: 170.

Type Species: Mus granti Wroughton 1908

Species and subspecies: 2 species:

Species Micaelamys granti (Wroughton 1908)

Species Micaelamys namaquensis (A. Smith 1834)

Discussion: Aethomys Division. Formerly included in Aethomys as a subgenus, but a variety of data sets ranging from morphological to molecular indicate the two species discussed below belong in a monophyletic group, Micaelamys , separate from that containing species of Aethomys (see generic account of Aethomys ). References cited in the following accounts treated granti and namaquensis as species of Aethomys . Including Micaelamys with Aethomys in the same Division is provisional. In phylogenetic analyses of mtDNA cytochrome b sequences, Aethomys (represented by A. chrysophilus and A. kaiseri ) is closest to Grammomys , while Micaelamys ( M. namaquensis ) joins other African genera depending on the analyses ( Castiglia et al., 2003 b; Ducroz et al., 2001). Phylogenetic analyses employing a broader sampling of not only species in Aethomys but of endemic African murine genera using molecular, chromosomal, and morphological data sets may resolve the phylogenetic relationships of Aethomys and Micaelamys . Evolutionary history as documented by fossils extends back to the late Pliocene of South Africa (" A. cf. namaquensis "; Denys, 1990 c), and Pleistocene of Namibia (" Micaelamys "; Senut et al., 1992).