Mus tenellus

Description

Mus tenellus Thomas, 1903

This clearly distinct genetic lineage was found at two close localities in northern Ethiopia – in Hagere Selam and in the Mekelle University campus. It may represent true M. tenellus, described from the River Blue Nile in Sudan, but comparison with the type material is necessary. On the contrary, morphological studies of museum material suggest that most published Ethiopian records of M. tenellus, especially those from southern Ethiopia, were actually M. minutoides (Musser & Carleton 2005, Bryja et al. 2014; see the account of M. minutoides). Mus sp. “Koi River” (sensu Bryja et al. 2014) A single specimen from moist savanna near the River Koi in south-western Ethiopia clearly belongs to the sorella group (sensu Bryja et al. 2014), but is genetically very divergent (K2P-distance at cytb gene between this species and other lineages of the sorella group are 9.72-9.83 %). Further work is necessary to resolve the taxonomic rank of this lineage. This is the first record of a member of the sorella group in Ethiopia. It was found in sympatry with M. minutoides.

Taxonomy

Mus tenellus is a species. It belogs to the Muridae family.