Togo mouse on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
The Togo mouse (''Leimacomys buettneri''), also known as Büttner's African forest mouse or the groove-toothed forest mouse, is a unique
muroid rodent
The Muroidea are a large superfamily of rodents, including mice, rats, voles, hamsters, lemmings, gerbils, and many other relatives. Although the Muroidea originated in Eurasia, they occupy a vast variety of habitats on every continent except A ...
known from only two specimens taken from near the type locality of
Bismarckburg near Yege,
Togo
Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the west, Benin to Benin–Togo border, the east and Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Togo border, the north. It is one of the le ...
, in 1890. Its
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
is
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 "unisp ...
.
Description and natural history
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 of
Humboldt University
The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public university, public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany.
The university was established by Frederick William III of Prussia, Frederick W ...
in
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
, Germany.
The head and body length is with a tail of . 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. Its ears are small and hairy. The feet are also somewhat hairy. The tail may be naked or slightly haired.
The
incisor
Incisors (from Latin ''incidere'', "to cut") are the front teeth present in most mammals. They are located in the premaxilla above and on the mandible below. Humans have a total of eight (two on each side, top and bottom). Opossums have 18, wher ...
s are shallowly grooved. The snout is long and wide, the interorbital width is broad, and the
zygomatic plate
In rodent anatomy, the zygomatic plate is a bony plate derived from the flattened front part of the zygomatic arch (cheekbone). At the back, it connects to the front (maxillary) root of the zygomatic arch, and at the top it is connected to the ...
is large.
Based on skull morphology, the Togo mouse is presumed to be
insectivorous
A robber fly eating a hoverfly
An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant which eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects.
The first vertebrate insectivores we ...
. Very little is known about the
habits
A habit (or wont, as a humorous and formal term) is a routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously.
A 1903 paper in the ''American Journal of Psychology'' defined a "habit, from the standpoint of psychology, ...
of this unusual mouse.
Classification
''Leimacomys'' has been transferred back and forth between the Dendromurinae and the Murinae">Dendromurinae">...
of this unusual mouse.
Classification
''Leimacomys'' has been transferred back and forth between the Dendromurinae and the Murinae since its discovery. It most closely resembles ''Lophuromys'', which has been transferred to a newly erected Deomyinae on the basis of molecular phylogeny, molecular data. The association with ''Lophuromys'' is thought to be due to convergent evolution due to similar diets. Tooth characters resemble dendromurines, ''
Mystromys'' or basal
gerbil
The Mongolian gerbil or Mongolian jird (''Meriones unguiculatus'') is a rodent belonging to the subfamily Gerbillinae. Their body size is typically , with a tail, and body weight , with adult males larger than females. The animal is used in s ...
s. Denys et al. generated a phylogeny that suggested, with limited support, ''Leimacomys'' is a
sister taxon
In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree.
Definition
The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram:
Taxon A and ...
to the
Gerbillinae.
Musser and Carleton chose to erect a new subfamily, Leimacomyinae, to house this species. They placed it in the family
Muridae
The Muridae, or murids, are either the largest or second-largest family of rodents and of mammals, containing approximately 870 species, including many species of mice, rats, and gerbils found naturally throughout Eurasia, Africa, and Australia.
...
due to its potential connection to either the Gerbillinae or Deomyinae, but emphasized that a broad phylogenetic study including ''Leimacomys'', and a host of
nesomyids and murids, is needed to determine its appropriate position.
Conservation status
The Togo mouse is considered to be either
critically endangered
An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...
or
extinct
Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...
depending on the authority. Schlitter classified it as
extinct
Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...
, because subsequent surveys to the area failed to recover it. Grubb et al. (1998) noted these surveys inadequately sampled appropriate
habitat
In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...
in Togo and neighboring
Ghana
Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...
, and they were reluctant to declare the species extinct. Musser and Carleton also emphasized that 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.
The
IUCN
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...
currently describes the Togo mouse as "data deficient". This species has also been recently added on Re:wild’s 25 most wanted lost species.
References
Further reading
*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.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q538618
Muridae
Mammals of West Africa
Endemic fauna of Togo
Rodents of Africa
Togo mouse