Lophiomys imhausi Milne-Edwards, 1867

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 : 563-564

Lophiomys imhausi Milne-Edwards, 1867 . LTnstitut, Paris, 35:46.

TYPE LOCALITY: Somalia ("Probably from African coast opposite Aden, where it was purchased," Allen, 1939:315; also see Thomas, 1910c:222) .

DISTRIBUTION: E Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania; from sea level up to 3300 m in Ethiopia ( Yalden et al., 1976), but apparently restricted to mountain forest in Kenya and Uganda ( Hollister, 1919; Delany, 1975). Known from Israel by subfossils and may occur in Arabia ( Harrison and Bates, 1991).

SYNONYMS: aethiopicus, bozasi , hindei , ibeanus , smithi , testudo, thomasi .

COMMENTS: Thomas (1910c) recognized four species of Lophiomys , but Ellerman (1940:636) noted that "Thomas evidently came to the conclusion that all the East African 'species' were one, as there is a note in his tracts to this effect. I am inclined to go further and think that until more material comes to hand all forms must be treated as races of the earliest name imhausi ." Ellerman's view prevails today and has yet to be tested by careful taxonomic revision.