474.

Mittendorf’s Striped

Grass Mouse

Lemniscomys mittendorfi

French: Rat-rayé de Mittendorf / German: Mittendorf-Streifengrasmaus / Spanish: Ratén de hierba listado de Mittendorf

Other common names: Mittendorf's Lemniscomys

Taxonomy. Lemmniscomys mittendorfi Eisentraut, 1968,

Lake Oku on Mt Oku, Banso Highlands, West Cameroon.

Lemniscomys mittendorfi exhibits similarities to L. macculus and L. bellieri . Monotypic.

Distribution. Restricted to Mt Oku, Cameroon.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 85-98 mm, tail 75-84 mm, ear 13-15 mm, hindfoot 19-22 mm; weight 22-34 g. Mittendorf’s Striped Grass Mouse is, along with Hoogstraal’s Striped Grass Mouse ( L. hoogstraali), the darkest member of the genus. Furis very dark brown above and contrastingly gray below, with inconspicuous black mid-dorsalstripe and eightlateral stripes, upper three oflatter broken into pale buffy spots. Eye-ring and nasal region are buff. Tailis relatively short (c.86% of head-body length), black above, whitish buff below, thickly covered with hairs in middle section. Forefeet and hindfeet are buff and sparsely haired. Chromosomal complement has 2n = 56, FN = 66-72.

Habitat. Afro-alpine grass savanna above the forest line, at ¢.2300 m.

Food and Feeding. No information.

Breeding. No information.

Activity patterns. No information.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Vulnerable on The IUCN Red List.

Bibliography. Denys et al. (2014), Filling (1992), Happold (2013a), Monadjem et al. (2015), Van der Straeten (1980b).