Genus
Saccostomus
Description
African pouched mice of the genus Saccostomus are small to medium-sized slowly moving rodents, which are locally abundant in seasonal environments of grasslands, savannas, scrublands and woodlands of southern and eastern Africa (Monadjem et al. 2015). The genus is morphologically well defined by heavily built bodies with short limbs and short tails as well as by the presence of cheek pouches. Two major clades are defined in the genus, the campestris group and the mearnsi group, with the latter occurring in the Somali-Maasai bioregion and consisting of two species (Mikula et al. 2016). Only one species, S. mearnsi, occurs in Ethiopia, where it reaches the northern border of the genus distribution (Mikula et al. 2016).
Taxonomy
Saccostomus is a genus. It belogs to the Nesomyidae family.There is 1 lower taxonomic units covered in this database.
