Species
Arvicanthis saturatus
Description
Arvicanthis saturatus Dollman, 1911
Arvicanthis abyssinicus saturatus Dollman, 1911 was described from the River Didessa near Guma and it is the oldest available name for this taxon, reported in most previous works (except the original description, see above) as A. abyssinicus (Bryja et al. 2019). The original description by Dollman (1911) perfectly fits this taxon, i.e. general colour dark blackish, backs of feet dark brown, toes black and dorsal stripe (usually) well marked, and it also corresponds well in morphometric analysis of skulls (Fadda & Corti 2001). All genetically characterized specimens of this species originate from central Ethiopia, not far from Addis Ababa (e.g. crop fields near Menagesha). Yalden et al. (1976) mentioned that the mid-dorsal dark stripe, lack of the reddish suffusion on the hindquarters and rather dark agouti fur on the venter is typical colouration of “A. abyssinicus”. This suggests that most localities of A. abyssinicus from Yalden et al. (1976) in fact might represent A. saturatus. Genetic analysis of more numerous material especially from lower elevations of the Abyssinian massif (where genetic data are largely lacking) is required to delimit the distribution of this taxon.
Taxonomy
Arvicanthis saturatus is a species. It belogs to the Muridae family.
