Zelotomys hildegardeae (Thomas 1902)

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 : 1520

Zelotomys hildegardeae (Thomas 1902)

[Mus] hildegardeae Thomas 1902 , Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, 9: 219.

Type Locality: Kenya ( Kenya Colony), Machakos.

Vernacular Names: Hildegarde's Zelotomys.

Synonyms: Zelotomys instans Thomas 1916 ; Zelotomys kuvelaiensis St. Leger 1936 ; Zelotomys lillyana Bohmann 1950 ; Zelotomys shortridgei Hinton 1920 ; Zelotomys vinaceus Heller 1912 .

Distribution: W Angola ( Crawford-Cabral, 1998), Zambia ( Ansell, 1978), N Malawi (Nyika Plateau; Ansell and Dowsett, 1988), Tanzania, Kenya ( Hollister, 1919), SW Uganda ( Delany, 1975), Rwanda, Burundi, NE Dem. Rep. Congo (G. M. Allen, 1939), S Sudan ( Setzer, 1956), and Central African Republic; see Misonne (1974).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Terrestrial, partly diurnal, primarily insectivorous, emitting high-pitched whistles (Ansell, 1960; Delany, 1975), Z. hildegardeae inhabits tall grassland biomes and is infrequently encountered by collectors ( Ansell, 1978). G. M. Allen (1939) listed hildegardeae , shortridgei and instans as separate species, as did Ellerman (1941:238), who noted that "The species are very closely allied, and may later be regarded all as races of the type," which reflects modern taxonomic treatment.