Skull size and shape of Dasymys (Rodentia, Muridae) from sub-Saharan Africa
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Sarah K. Mullin
Three morphological datasets (traditional measurements, dorsal and ventral skull shape coordinates) were used to examine craniometric variation in the water rat Dasymys, a genus found throughout sub-Saharan Africa. This study is the first to examine the entire genus as well as to statistically compare taxa within the genus to the nominate species D. incomtus. Morphological data confirmed that the five species recognised by Musser & Carleton (1993); D. incomtus, D. foxi, D. nudipes, D. montanus and D. rufulus, represent valid morphological species although two of the species do not encompass the geographic areas presently assigned to them. Dasymys rufulus occupies a larger range and D. incomtus a much smaller range than previously suggested with D. rufulus appearing to be part of a species complex. Furthermore, we discerned six additional morphological species resulting from the elevation of four subspecies (D. i. capensis, D. i. griseifrons, D. i. medius and D. i. longipilosus) and the recognition of two new species: D. shortridgei (restricted to the Okavango Delta) and D. robertsii (occurring in the Limpopo and Mpumalanga Provinces of South Africa).
Copyright 2004, Walter de Gruyter
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Articles in the same Issue
- Population dynamics of four marsupials and its relation to resource production in the Atlantic forest in southeastern Brazil
- Factors affecting the use of space by two rodent species in Brazilian Atlantic forest
- Annual weight variation and reproductive cycle of the wood mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus) in a Mediterranean environment
- Gaur (Bos gaurus) and Banteng (B. javanicus) in the lowland forest mosaic of Xe Pian Protected Area, Lao PDR: abundance, habitat use, and conservation
- Diet of European mink (Mustela lutreola) in Northern Spain
- Muridae (Rodentia) from the Khammouan Limestone and Xe Piane National Biodiversity Conservation Areas, Lao PDR
- Development of tusks and associated structures in Mesoplodon bidens (Cetaceae, Mammalia)
- Skull size and shape of Dasymys (Rodentia, Muridae) from sub-Saharan Africa
- Underwater behaviors of short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus) off Tenerife
- Do leopards kill forest elephants? Evidence from northern Congo
- On Konya wild sheep, Ovis orientalis anatolica, in the Bozdag protected area
- Distributional extension of Molossops neglectus (Chiroptera, Molossidae) into southeastern Brazil
