Otomys irroratus (Brants, 1827)

Guy G. Musser & Michael D. Carleton, 1993, Order Rodentia - Family Muridae, Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition), Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 501-755 : 680

Otomys irroratus (Brants, 1827) . Het Geslacht der Muizen, p. 94.

TYPE LOCALITY: South Africa, Cape Province, Cape Town district, near Constantia (as fixed by A. Smith, 1834:149) .

DISTRIBUTION: Mesic savannah and grasslands of southern Africa: S Cape Province to C Transvaal, South Africa; disjunct populations in W South Africa and in E Zimbabwe and contiguous Mozambique.

SYNONYMS: auratus , bisulcatus , capensis , coenosus , cupreoides, cupreus , natalensis , obscura , orientalis , randensis, typicus .

COMMENTS: Bohmann (1952) established a broad, highly polymorphic definition of O. irroratus , then including among his 23 subspecies angoniensis and maximus (see those accounts). Presumably excepting angoniensis and maximus, Dieterlen (1968) and Petter (1982) further enlarged Bohmann's concept of irroratus to subsume the following forms here (and elsewhere) treated as separate species (see individual accounts): anchietae , laminatus , tropicalis , and typus . Although followed to a greater or lesser extent (e.g., Delany, 1975; Kingdon, 1974), such an inclusive species construct is disputed by others who restrict O. irroratus proper to southern Africa (e.g., Meester et al., 1986; Misonne, 1974). G-banded comparisons reveal a karyotype that is highly derived ( Robinson and Elder, 1987). Cytogenetic variation extensive among South African population samples ( Contrafatto et al., 1992a). See Bronner et al. (1988, Mammalian Species, 308).