Rhabdomys

Rhabdomys
Temporal range: Late Pliocene to Recent
Rhabdomys pumilio
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Muridae
Tribe: Arvicanthini
Genus: Rhabdomys
Thomas, 1916
Type species
Mus pumilio
Species

Rhabdomys dilectus
Rhabdomys pumilio

Rhabdomys is a largely Southern African genus of muroid rodents slightly larger than house mice. They are known variously as striped or four-striped mice or rats. Traditionally the genus has been seen as a single species, Rhabdomys pumilio, though modern evidence on the basis of karyotype and mtDNA analysis suggests that it comprises two or more species and subspecies.[1] Dorsally Rhabdomys species display four characteristic black longitudinal stripes on a paler background.[2]

  1. ^ Castiglia R., Solano E., Makundi R. H., Hulselmans J., Verheyen E., Colangelo P. (2011). "Rapid chromosomal evolution in the mesic four-striped grass rat Rhabdomys dilectus (Rodentia, Muridae) revealed by mtDNA phylogeographic analysis". Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research. 50 (2): 165–172. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0469.2011.00627.x.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ Mills, Gus & Hes, Lex (1997). The Complete Book of Southern African Mammals. Cape Town: Struik Publishers. ISBN 978-0-947430-55-9.