434.

Bocage’s Rock Rat

Aethomys bocagei

French: Aethomys de Bocage / German: Bocage-Buschlandratte / Spanish: Rata de roca de Bocage

Other common names: Bocage's Aethomys, Bocage's eld Rat

Taxonomy. Mus bocagei Thomas, 1904,

Pungo Andongo, Angola.

This species is monotypic.

Distribution. NW & W Angola and neighboring extreme SW DR Congo.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 145-198 mm,tail 159-180 mm, ear 21-32 mm, hindfoot 34-37 mm. No specific data are available for body weight. Males are on average larger than females, with considerable overlap in measurements between sexes. Bocage’s Rock Ratis a large rat, with coarse fur pale brown dorsally and white ventrally (hair with slate-gray bases but white tips). Ears are medium-sized and brown. Tail is long (up to 110% of head-body length) and coarsely scaled with fine hairs. Limbs are relatively short and foreand hindfeet dorsally white, with four digits on forefoot and five digits on hindfoot. Karyotype is 2n = 50.

Habitat. Savanna and savanna—forest mosaic habitats.

Food and Feeding. No information.

Breeding. No information.

Activity patterns. Bocage’s Rock Ratis probably nocturnal and terrestrial.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List.

Bibliography. Crawford-Cabral (1998, 1999), Happold (2013a), Hill & Carter (1941), Monadjem et al. (2015).