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.