Genus
Stenocephalemys
Description
The genus is endemic to Ethiopia and Eritrea, where it often represents the most abundant component of the small mammal community in the Highlands. Six species of Stenocephalemys are currently recognized (Mizerovská et al. 2020): S. albipes, S. ruppi, S. griseicauda, S. sokolovi, S. zimai and S. albocaudatus (the first two species have historically been included in the genera Praomys, Myomyscus or Myomys; reviewed e.g. in Musser & Carleton 2005). Previous genetic studies of this genus (Fadda et al. 2001, Lavrenchenko & Verheyen 2006) used only a limited number of individuals (12 and 11, respectively) genotyped at a single mitochondrial marker (16S-rDNA or cytb, respectively), and the geographical distribution of the analysed samples was restricted. Bryja et al. (2018) genotyped 341 specimens representing all known species. The combined analysis of mitochondrial and nuclear loci allowed the mapping of the main genetic lineages and provided the first data on elevational ranges of particular taxa. The integrative taxonomic revision based on the combination of genomic and morphometric data was performed by Mizerovská et al. (2020). The analysis of mitogenomes revealed intensified positive selection acting on mitochondrial genes in taxa living in the highest elevation of the Ethiopian Highlands (Bartáková et al. 2021).
Taxonomy
Stenocephalemys is a genus. It belogs to the Muridae family.There are 6 lower taxonomic units covered in this database.
