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First records of albinism and leucism in Ctenodactylus gundi (Rodentia: Ctenodactylidae)

  • Haithem El-Farhati ORCID logo EMAIL logo and Saïd Nouira
Published/Copyright: November 14, 2022
Mammalia
From the journal Mammalia Volume 87 Issue 1

Abstract

Albinism and leucism are genetic disorders that cause atypical coloration. Herein, we present observation cases of hypomelanism not previously recorded in the literature for a Ctenodactylidae species. We report two observations of an albino and a leucistic specimens from two separate locations distant of 230 km in the central and southern Tunisia. The first observation was in Metlaoui (34°21′14.9″N 8°22′16.7″E) and the second in Ghomrassen (33°04′46.5″N 10°21′23.7″E). Certain factors can increase the chances of these atypical colorations in the natural population, but these phenotypes remain rare in rodents, especially in African species.

Keywords: Africa; coat coloration; hypomelanism; rodent; Tunisia
Corresponding author: Haithem El-Farhati, Research Unit Wildlife Ecology (UR17-ES44), Department of Biological Sciences, Tunis Faculty of Sciences, University of Tunis El Manar, 2092 Tunis, Tunisia, E-mail:

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Walid Ben-Salah for the clear photographs. We also thank Hichem Rouabeh for allowing the use of the picture of the albino gundi and showing us the location of the colony where he hunted the specimen, Simeonovski Valizar for discussing and reviewing the manuscript, providing remarks and additional literature and Brahim Jaziri for the elaboration of the map. We would like to thank the editor and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive insights.

  1. Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.

  2. Research funding: None declared.

  3. Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest regarding this article.

  4. Research ethics: This work was under ethical approval according to an approved animal use protocol with no disturbed animal through direct contact, no killing or capture of an animal (only collecting a dead gundi picture from a poacher after his act), no object left on the ground after work, the observations were made by binoculars at long distance without disturbing the activity of the animals.

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Received: 2022-04-22
Accepted: 2022-10-18
Published Online: 2022-11-14
Published in Print: 2023-01-27

© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Biogeography
  3. Biogeography and conservation of desert warthog Phacochoerus aethiopicus and common warthog Phacochoerus africanus (Artiodactyla: Suidae) in the Horn of Africa
  4. How far westward? Revisiting the distribution of Arctonyx badgers in the westernmost global range
  5. Solitary, in the night, it goes: summary of records and range expansion of the common genet in Italy
  6. Conservation
  7. Rarity and conservation status of the Colombian Speckled Tree Rat, Pattonomys semivillosus (I. Geoffroy, 1838)
  8. Ecology
  9. Trophic structure and foraging strategies in a bat community in northern Pantanal, Brazil
  10. “Brown hare never goes underground”: the exception that proves the rule
  11. New records of the rare bushy-tailed opossum, Glironia venusta Thomas, 1912 (Didelphimorphia), in Brazil, with notes on the species’ diet
  12. First records of albinism and leucism in Ctenodactylus gundi (Rodentia: Ctenodactylidae)
  13. Paint it black: first record of melanism in Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis)
  14. Taxonomy/Phylogeny
  15. Morphological redescription, phylogenetic position, and distribution of the near threatened cavy Microcavia shiptoni (Thomas, 1925), with a key for the living species of Microcavia
  16. Taxonomic reassessment of the chaco mice of the genus Andalgalomys Williams and Mares, 1978 (Rodentia, cricetidae) with a redefinition of Andalgalomys olrogi Williams and Mares, 1978
  17. Annual Reviewer Acknowledgement
  18. Reviewer acknowledgement Mammalia volume 86 (2022)
https://doi.org/10.1515/mammalia-2022-0044
Keywords for this article
Africa; coat coloration; hypomelanism; rodent; Tunisia

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Biogeography
  3. Biogeography and conservation of desert warthog Phacochoerus aethiopicus and common warthog Phacochoerus africanus (Artiodactyla: Suidae) in the Horn of Africa
  4. How far westward? Revisiting the distribution of Arctonyx badgers in the westernmost global range
  5. Solitary, in the night, it goes: summary of records and range expansion of the common genet in Italy
  6. Conservation
  7. Rarity and conservation status of the Colombian Speckled Tree Rat, Pattonomys semivillosus (I. Geoffroy, 1838)
  8. Ecology
  9. Trophic structure and foraging strategies in a bat community in northern Pantanal, Brazil
  10. “Brown hare never goes underground”: the exception that proves the rule
  11. New records of the rare bushy-tailed opossum, Glironia venusta Thomas, 1912 (Didelphimorphia), in Brazil, with notes on the species’ diet
  12. First records of albinism and leucism in Ctenodactylus gundi (Rodentia: Ctenodactylidae)
  13. Paint it black: first record of melanism in Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis)
  14. Taxonomy/Phylogeny
  15. Morphological redescription, phylogenetic position, and distribution of the near threatened cavy Microcavia shiptoni (Thomas, 1925), with a key for the living species of Microcavia
  16. Taxonomic reassessment of the chaco mice of the genus Andalgalomys Williams and Mares, 1978 (Rodentia, cricetidae) with a redefinition of Andalgalomys olrogi Williams and Mares, 1978
  17. Annual Reviewer Acknowledgement
  18. Reviewer acknowledgement Mammalia volume 86 (2022)
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