Dendromus Smith 1829

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Rodentia - Family Nesomyidae, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 2, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 930-955 : 936

Dendromus Smith 1829

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

Type Species: Dendromus typus Smith 1829

Synonyms: Chortomys Thomas 1916 ; Dendromys J. B. Fischer 1830 ; Dendromys Smuts 1832 ; Poemys Thomas 1916 .

Species and subspecies: 12 species:

Species Dendromus insignis Thomas 1903

Species Dendromus kahuziensis Dieterlen 1969

Species Dendromus leucostomus Monard 1933

Species Dendromus lovati de Winton 1899

Species Dendromus melanotis Smith 1834

Species Dendromus mesomelas ( Brants 1827)

Species Dendromus messorius Thomas 1903

Species Dendromus mystacalis Heuglin 1863

Species Dendromus nyasae Thomas 1916

Species Dendromus nyikae Wroughton 1909

Species Dendromus oreas Osgood 1936

Species Dendromus vernayi Hill and Carter 1937

Discussion: Rosevear (1969) thoroughly reviewed historical usages of generic names given in the synonymy. In his checklist of African mammals, G. M. Allen (1939) listed 29 species of Dendromus , soon after reduced to four by Bohmann’s (1942) revision. Based on morphological traits and ecological associations, Dieterlen (1971) recognized five species within the central African region. We recognize twelve based on specimen examination from North American and European museums and on literature sources; most have clear morphological and geographic characteristics, a few are heterogeneous entities and require further taxonomic revision. Chromosomal information for several species were reported by Matthey (1967 a, 1970). The species have been traditionally segregated into the subgenera Poemys (hallux with a nail— D. melanotis , D. nyikae ) and Dendromus (hallux bears a claw—all other species) (see Ansell, 1974 b, for utility of the hallucial trait and other characters proposed to define subgenera).

The extant diversity of Dendromus in Subsaharan Africa mirrors an equal or greater radiation of extinct species. Recorded earliest from the late Miocene of S Ethiopia ( Geraads, 2001); additional species uncovered in Pliocene-Pleistocene sediments in South Africa ( Avery, 1995, 1998; Denys, 1994 b) and East Africa ( Denys, 1987 a, b; Jaeger, 1979). Of the two species Denys (1994 b) named from the Pliocene Langebaanweg site, southern Africa, D. darti is most closely related to living D. melanotis and D. averyi to extant D. mesomelas . Two species of Dendromus are also known outside Africa, from late Miocene sediments in the United Arab Emirates (de Bruijn, 1999; de Bruijn and Whybrow, 1994); their molars are strikingly similar to the South African species .