Myomyscus brockmani (Thomas 1908)

[Myomyscus] brockmani (Thomas 1908), Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, 18: 298.

Type Locality: Somalia (British Somaliland), Upper Sheikh.

Vernacular Names: Brockman's Myomyscus.

Synonyms: Myomyscus allisoni (Hayman 1960); Myomyscus niveiventris (Osgood 1910); Myomyscus oweni Setzer 1956; Myomyscus subfuscus (Osgood 1910); Myomyscus ulae (Heller 1910) .

Distribution: Primarily tree savannas from EC Tanzania north through Kenya (Hollister, 1919) and N Uganda (Delany, 1975) into Somalia, SE Ethiopia (Yalden et al., 1976, 1996; specimens in CM), and S Sudan (Setzer, 1956); W and S limits unknown.

Discussion: Chromosomal and immunological data indicate close relationship with species of Mastomys (Qumsiyeh et al., 1990), an alliance also suggested by analyses of mtDNA cytochrome b sequences (Lecompte et al., 2002 b). Analyses of nuclear IRBP gene sequences, however, indicates brockmani, along with M. yemeni, to be closely allied to species of Stenocephalemys and should be included in that genus (Lecompte, 2003). Spermatozoal morphology described by Baskovich and Lavrenchenko (1995, as fumatus). This species has traditionally been known as M. fumatus (Musser and Carleton, 1993), but Van der Straeten and Robbins (1997) demonstrated the holotype of fumatus to be an example of Mastomys and not Myomys (Musser independently examined the holotype and identified it as a Mastomys). We include fumatus in the synonymy of Mastomys natalensis (see that account). The next oldest name available for this species of Myomyscus is Thomas’s (1908) brockmani . Yalden et al. (1976) included tana in the synonymy but the holotype is a Mastomys (Van der Straeten and Robbins, 1997) .