Species
Arvicanthis niloticus "C2-C4"
Description
Arvicanthis niloticus “C2-C4” (sensu Bryja et al. 2019)
This is a typical species of the Sudanian savanna/Sahel ecosystem (Bryja et al. 2019). Its phylogeographic structure was studied by Dobigny et al. (2013), who defined four main clades within A. niloticus sensu lato (C1-C4). The easternmost clade C1 is considered here as A. niloticus s. str. (see above), while the remaining clades represent species that should receive another scientific name. Numerous descriptions originate from Kenya and Uganda (see Allen 1939), from where substantial morphological variability has been reported (Fadda & Corti 2001) and where this taxon clearly occurs. It will be necessary to perform combined genetic and morphological analysis from this region to answer the question of how many species exist there and how they are related to A. niloticus “C2-C4” in central and western Africa. Similarly, there are at least four descriptions from “Anglo- Egyptian Sudan” (Allen 1939), i.e. current Sudan and South Sudan, which is a potential contact zone of A. niloticus s. str. and A. niloticus “C2-C4”. Detailed analysis of the type material and genomic analysis of potential contact zone, especially in Sudan, is required to correctly delimit these taxa (Bryja et al. 2019). The clade C2 of A. niloticus “C2-C4” is distributed in Sudanian savanna from northern Cameroon to southern Ethiopia and western Kenya. Very likely, it is also the species present in the Gambella region, west of the River Omo, from where DNA data are missing (Orlov et al. 1992, Bulatova et al. 2002). The localities of A. dembeensis (= A. niloticus s. str.) from the southern part of the Rift Valley reported by Yalden et al. (1976) very likely represent A. niloticus “C2- C4”.
Taxonomy
Arvicanthis niloticus "C2-C4" is a species. It belogs to the Muridae family.
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