Otomys irroratus
Creators: name: Musser, Guy G.
name: Carleton, Michael D.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 1993
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Rodentia
Muridae
Otomys
Otomys irroratus

description: <i>Otomys irroratus</i> (Brants, 1827). Het Geslacht der Muizen, p. 94. TYPE LOCALITY: South Africa, Cape Province, Cape Town district, near Constantia (as fixed by A. Smith, 1834:149). DISTRIBUTION: Mesic savannah and grasslands of southern Africa: S Cape Province to C Transvaal, South Africa; disjunct populations in W South Africa and in E Zimbabwe and contiguous Mozambique. SYNONYMS: <i>auratus, bisulcatus, capensis, coenosus, cupreoides, cupreus, natalensis, obscura, orientalis, randensis, typicus.</i> COMMENTS: Bohmann (1952) established a broad, highly polymorphic definition of <i>O. irroratus,</i> then including among his 23 subspecies <i>angoniensis</i> and <i>maximus</i> (see those accounts). Presumably excepting <i>angoniensis</i> and <i>maximus,</i> Dieterlen (1968) and Petter (1982) further enlarged Bohmann's concept of <i>irroratus</i> to subsume the following forms here (and elsewhere) treated as separate species (see individual accounts): <i>anchietae, laminatus, tropicalis,</i> and <i>typus.</i> Although followed to a greater or lesser extent (e.g., Delany, 1975; Kingdon, 1974), such an inclusive species construct is disputed by others who restrict <i>O. irroratus proper</i> to southern Africa (e.g., Meester et al., 1986; Misonne, 1974). G-banded comparisons reveal a karyotype that is highly derived (Robinson and Elder, 1987). Cytogenetic variation extensive among South African population samples (Contrafatto et al., 1992a). See Bronner et al. (1988, Mammalian Species, 308).
description: Published as part of <i>Guy G. Musser &amp; Michael D. Carleton, 1993, Order Rodentia - Family Muridae, pp. 501-755 in Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition), Washington and London :Smithsonian Institution Press</i> on page 680, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7353098
description: {"references": ["Bohmann, L., von. 1952. Die afrikanische Nagergattung Otomys F. Cuvier. Zeitschrift fur Saugetierkunde, 18: 1 - 80.", "Dieterlen, F. 1968. Zur Kenntnis der Gattung Otomys (Otomyinae; Muridae; Rodentia). Beitrage zur Systematik, Okologie und Biologie zentralafrikanischer Formen. Zeitschrift fur Saugetierkunde, 33: 321 - 352.", "Petter, F. 1982. Les parentes des Otomys du Mont Oku (Cameroun) et des autres formes rapportees a O. irroratus (Brants, 1827) (Rodentia, Muridae). Bonner Zoologische Beitrage, 33: 215 - 222.", "Delany, M. J. 1975. The rodents of Uganda. Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History), London, 165 pp.", "Meester, J. A. J., I. L. Rautenbach, N. J. Dippenaar, and C. M. Baker. 1986. Classification of southern African mammals. Transvaal Museum Monograph, 5: 1 - 359.", "Misonne, X. 1974. Order Rodentia. Part 6. Pp. 1 - 39, in The mammals of Africa: An identification manual (J. Meester and H. W. Setzer, eds.). [issued 10 Sep 1974]. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D. C., not continuously paginated.", "Robinson, T. J., and F. F. B. Elder. 1987. Extensive genome reorganization in the African rodent genus Otomys. Journal of Zoology, London, 211: 735 - 745.", "Contrafatto, G., J. A. Meester, G. Bronner, P. J. Taylor, and K. Willan. 1992 a. Genetic variation in the African rodent subfamily Otomyinae (Muridae). IV: Chromosome G-banding analysis of Otomys irroratus and O. angoniensis. Israel Journal of Zoology, 38: 277 - 291."]}