Mus imberbis Ruppell 1842

537.

Ethiopian Striped Mouse

Mus imberbis

French: Souris a bande dorsale / German: Athiopische Streifenmaus / Spanish: Raton listado de Etiopia

Other common names: Ethiopian Mouse

Taxonomy. Mus imberbis Ruppell, 1842,

«Provinz Simen [= Simien],» northern Ethiopia.

Until recently separated in its own genus, Muriculus, the 2015 molecular data of Y. Meheretu and colleagues show this to be a subgenus of Mus. Monotypic.

Distribution. Endemic to the high plateau of Ethiopia on both sides of the Rift Valley.

Descriptive notes. Head—body 70-80 mm, tail 46-52 mm, ear 11-13 mm, hindfoot 16-17 mm; weight 16 g (n = 1). The Ethiopian Striped Mouse is small and has a short tail. Fur is soft, dense, brown to olive gray and speckled above with dark mid-dorsal stripe and grayish to buff white below. Tail is short (70% of head-body length), clearly bicolored, short haired. Ears gray, without postauricular white spots. Forefeet and hindfeet whitish gray above.

Habitat. Montane grassland. Elevational range is 1900-3400 m.

Food and Feeding. The Ethiopian Striped Mouse is presumably granivorous.

Breeding. No information.

Activity patterns. Ethiopian Striped Mice are presumably nocturnal and terrestrial.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List (as Muriculus imberbis).

Bibliography. Happold (2013a), Meheretu et al. (2015), Monadjem et al. (2015), Mller (1977), Yalden & Largen (1992), Yalden et al. (1976).