Dendromus Smith, 1829

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 : 541

Dendromus Smith, 1829 . Zool. J. London, 4:438.

TYPE SPECIES: Dendromus typus Smith, 1829 (= Mus mesomelas Brants, 1827 ).

SYNONYMS: Chortomys , Dendromys , Poemys .

COMMENTS: In his checklist of African mammals, Allen (1939) listed 28 species of Dendromus , which was reduced to four by Bohmann's (1942) revision. Dieterlen (1971) focused on reporting morphological, ecological, and other traits of the central African forms and recognized five species from that region. We recognize eleven. Definitions of D. kahuziensis , D. lovati , D. insignis , D. vernayi , and D. nyikae are clear, even though the first two are known by few specimens. Four ( D. melanotis , D. mesomelas , D. messorius , and D. mystacalis ) need to be systematically revised—each may actually be a complex of species; some synonyms associated with each of them may be incorrectly allocated. Two others, D. kivu and D. oreas require critical comparison with samples of true D. mesomelas to resolve their affinities. Chromosomal information for several species was reported by Matthey (1967, 1970).