Walter Verheyen's African dormouse (''Graphiurus walterverheyeni'') is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

species of

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are roden ...

in the family Gliridae. From the

Central Congolian lowland forests The Central Congolian lowland forests are an ecoregion within the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This is a remote, inaccessible area of low-lying dense wet forest, undergrowth and swamp in the Cuvette Centrale region of the Congo Basin south o ...

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas o ...

in the central

Congo Basin The Congo Basin (french: Bassin du Congo) is the sedimentary basin of the Congo River. The Congo Basin is located in Central Africa, in a region known as west equatorial Africa. The Congo Basin region is sometimes known simply as the Congo. It c ...

, it has been found in west-central

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

, in the vicinity of the

Lukenie River The Lukenie River is a river in the central Congo basin of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). River barges from Kinshasa journey up the Congo, Kwah ( Kasai), and Fimi Rivers to the Lukenie as far as the landing at Kole, a journey of 6 ...

and of Wafania, near the left bank of the

Luilaka River The Momboyo River (french: Rivière Momboyo) is a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It joins the Busira River to form the Ruki River, a tributary of the Congo River. The Momboya and its main tributary the Luilaka are navigable for fr ...

. Although not found in immediate association, Lorraine's dormouse (''Graphiurus lorraineus'') and the short-eared African dormouse (''Graphiurus surdus'') are understood to be "broadly

sympatric In biology, two related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter one another. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct species s ...

". Most closely resembling Jentink's dormouse (''Graphiurus crassicaudatus''), it differs from this species both in its much smaller size and in its relative proportions. On the IUCN

Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biolog ...

, its

conservation status The conservation status of a group of organisms (for instance, a species) indicates whether the group still exists and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future. Many factors are taken into account when assessing conservatio ...

has been assessed as

Data Deficient A data deficient (DD) species is one which has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as offering insufficient information for a proper assessment of conservation status to be made. This does not necessarily ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4039672 Graphiurus Mammals described in 2009 Mammals of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Endemic fauna of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

See also

References