Protoxerus stangeri ( Waterhouse, 1842 )

Denys, Christiane, Missoup, Alain Didier, Nicolas, Violaine, Sylla, Morlaye, Douno, Mory, Kadjo, Blaise, Lalis, Aude & Monadjem, Ara, 2025, Annotated checklist of rodents from a biodiversity hotspot, Mount Nimba (West Africa), Zoosystema 47 (27), pp. 617-689 : 655-656

Protoxerus stangeri ( Waterhouse, 1842)

Sciurus stangeri Waterhouse, 1842: 202 .

REMARKS

Lamotte (1966) collected one specimen of this giant squirrel on the Guinean side of the mountain (MNHN-ZM-MO-1987-132) and Roche (1971) mentioned the species from Seredou. It was not reported by Misonne & Verschuren (1976) from the Liberian side but Coe (1975) collected three specimens attributed to P. stangeri temmincki Anderson, 1879 . Five specimens are recorded in the NMK (NMK336, 383, 392, 451, and 490). The species was identified as bushmeat sold in Yekepa and Saniquellie markets by Bene et al. (2013). One individual was caught by a camera-trap in 2017 on the Liberian Nimba in lowland forest ( Appendix 7). In the Guinean side of the Mount, 20 specimens were captured by hunters in Gbakoré, Zouguépo and Séringbara ( Dufour 2006). The giant squirrel is characterized by a dark brown dorsal pelage, speckled with black and white hairs, and a relatively small tail with black rings and a brown tuft of hairs. There is no lateral stripe. The standard external measurements are provided in Table 11 . The skull is large with a short nasal not domed and the post orbital notch situated in the anterior part of the CIO. In ventral view there is no P3 and only four jugal teeth. The molar rows are quite large and a masseteric knob is present. The tympanic bullae are long and in a single curvature with no trace of transbullae septa. The skull measurements are provided in Table 12 .