Togo mouse
| Togo mouse | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Muridae |
| Subfamily: | Leimacomyinae Musser&Carleton,2005 |
| Genus: | Leimacomys Matschie,1893 |
| Species: | L. buettneri
|
| Binomial name | |
| Leimacomys buettneri Matschie, 1893
| |
| |
TheTogo mouse(Leimacomys buettneri), also known asBüttner's African forest mouseor thegroove-toothed forest mouse,is a uniquemuroid rodentknown from only two specimens taken from near the type locality ofBismarckburg,near Yege, Togo, in 1890. Itsgenusismonotypic.
Description and natural history
[edit]The entirety of known material for this species consists of a single, poor-quality dry skin, a fluid-preserved animal, and a cranium and mandible. The cranium and mandible are from different animals. The material is deposited in the Zoologisches Museum ofHumboldt UniversityinBerlin,Germany.
The head and body length is 118 mm (4.6 in) with a tail of 37 mm (1.5 in). This tail is unusually short relative to the body length (ratio of 37%) and is considered an important diagnostic feature. The animal is dark to grey brown above and pale grey brown below. Ears are small and hairy. Feet are also somewhat hairy. The tail may be naked or slightly haired.
Theincisorsare shallowly grooved. The snout is long and wide, the interorbital width is broad, and thezygomatic plateis large).[2]
Based on skull morphology, the Togo mouse is presumed to beinsectivorous.[3]Very little is known about thehabitsof this unusual mouse.
Classification
[edit]Leimacomyshas been transferred back and forth between theDendromurinaeand theMurinaesince its discovery. It most closely resemblesLophuromys,which has been transferred to a newly erectedDeomyinaeon the basis ofmoleculardata. The association withLophuromysis thought to be due toconvergent evolutiondue to similar diets.[4]Tooth characters resemble dendromurines,Mystromysor basalgerbils.Denys et al.[5]generated a phylogeny that suggested, with limited support,Leimacomysis asister taxonto theGerbillinae.
Musser and Carleton[6]chose to erect a new subfamily,Leimacomyinae,to house this species. They placed it in the familyMuridaedue to its potential connection to either the Gerbillinae or Deomyinae, but emphasized that a broad phylogenetic study includingLeimacomys,and a host ofnesomyidsand murids, is needed to determine its appropriate position.
Conservation status
[edit]The Togo mouse is considered to be eithercritically endangeredorextinctdepending on the authority. Schlitter[7]classified it asextinct,because subsequent surveys to the area failed to recover it. Grubb et al. (1998)[citation needed]noted these surveys inadequately sampled appropriatehabitatin Togo and neighboringGhana,and they were reluctant to declare the species extinct. Musser and Carleton[8]also emphasized the insectivorous muroids as a group have proven difficult to capture, and intense surveys of high-elevation forests in this region are required to determine if it still persists.
TheIUCN[1]currently describes the Togo mouse as "data deficient". This species has also been recently added on Re:wild’s 25 most wanted lost species[9]
References
[edit]- ^abVan der Straeten & Schlitter (2016)."Leimacomys buettneri".IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.2016.Retrieved22 June2021.
- ^Musser, G. G. and M. D. Carleton. 2005. Superfamily Muroidea. Pp. 894-1531inMammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
- ^Dieterlen, F. 1976. Bemerkungen überLeimacomys büttneriMatschie, 1893 (Dendromurinae), Cricetidae, Rodentia). Säugetierkunde, 39:229-231.
- ^Dieterlen, F. 1976. Bemerkungen überLeimacomys büttneriMatschie, 1893 (Dendromurinae), Cricetidae, Rodentia). Säugetierkunde, 39:229-231.
- ^Denys, C., J. Michaux, F. Catzeflis, S. Ducrocq, and P. Chevret. 1995. Morphological and molecular data against the monophyly of Dendromurinae (Muridae: Rodentia). Bonner Zoologische Beiträge, 45:173-190.
- ^Musser, G. G. and M. D. Carleton. 2005. Superfamily Muroidea. Pp. 894-1531inMammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
- ^Schlitter, D. A. 1989. African rodents of special concern. Pp. 33-39inRodents: a world survey of species of conservation concern. W. Z. Lidicker Jr. ed. Occasional Papers IUCN Species Survival Commission no. 4.
- ^Musser, G. G. and M. D. Carleton. 2005. Superfamily Muroidea. Pp. 894-1531inMammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
- ^"Re:wild's Search for Lost Species".www.rewild.org.Retrieved2023-11-26.
Further reading
[edit]- Grubb et al. 1998.
- Musser, G. G. and M. D. Carleton. 1993. Family Muridae. pp. 501–755 in Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C.
- Nowak, Ronald M. 1999.Walker's Mammals of the World,6th edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1936 pp.ISBN978-0-8018-5789-8