Aethomys kaiseri (Noack 1887)

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 : 1256

Aethomys kaiseri (Noack 1887)

[Aethomys] kaiseri ( Noack 1887) , Zool. Jahrb. Syst., 2: 228.

Type Locality: Dem. Rep. Congo, Katanga Marungu.

Vernacular Names: Kaiser's Aethomys.

Synonyms: Aethomys amalae Dollman 1914 ; Aethomys hintoni Hatt 1934 ; Aethomys manteufeli Matschie 1911 ; Aethomys pedester Thomas 1911 ; Aethomys turneri Heller 1914 ; Aethomys vernayi Hill and Carter 1937 ; Aethomys walambae Wroughton 1907 .

Distribution: SW Uganda, S Kenya, Rwanda, S and E Dem. Rep. Congo, W and SW Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, and NC Angola; range mostly derived from Davis (1975 b).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Significance of regional morphological variation needs to be assessed by a systematic revision. Westernmost population is that in Angola ("... the Cuanza-Luando Mesopotamia, the Cuango River and the Southern Lunda Province"; Crawford-Cabral, 1999:180), referred to as A. k. vernayi , which seems to be isolated from the primary range of A. kaiseri ( Hill and Carter [1941] treated vernayi as a species); genetic intergradation between populations of vernayi and kaiseri has yet to be documented ( Crawford-Cabral, 1998, 1999). Crawford-Cabral (1998) reviewed Angolan population, and Grimshaw et al. (1995) discussed Mt Kilimanjaro records. Cytogenetics (C- and G-banding) and complete mtDNA cytochrome b sequence of Zambian A. kaiseri characterized and constrasted with samples of A. chrysophilus by Castiglia et al. (2003 b); see account of the latter.