Lemniscomys macculus bellieri Van der Straeten, 1975

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 : 641

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.5252/zoosystema2025v47a27
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:AF6A7887-54B4-466B-B2CB-BB0BE3B98338
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17441365
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03D087E9-9F7F-4736-0C6B-FD77FB868346
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Lemniscomys macculus bellieri Van der Straeten, 1975
status

Treatment

Lemniscomys macculus bellieri Van der Straeten, 1975 View in CoL

Lemniscomys bellieri Van der Straeten, 1975: 906 View in CoL .

Arvicanthis macculus Thomas & Wroughton, 1910: 515 .

Lemniscomys macculus View in CoL – Hollister 1919: 138.

Lemniscomys macculus bellieri View in CoL – Hanova et al. 2021: 11.

REMARKS

Two specimens attributed to L. macculus bellieri were found in the MNHN collections from Mount Nimba. They are not in proper condition and could not be genotyped. We keep these specimens under this attribution pending the discovery of further specimens and provide some characters for their identification following the key of Denys et al. (2020).

External measurements are missing for both specimens and we could not examine skin morphology. The skull of MNHN-ZM-MO-1992-207 corresponds to an adult female but is badly broken. The LGT is approximately 24.5 mm (but cannot be measured accurately because the skull is damaged). The specimen MNHN-ZM-MO-1987-358 is an adult with a relatively small-sized skull (LGT < 30 mm), with an LBT/LGT ratio of 16.87%, which fits well with L. macculus bellieri according Denys et al. (2020). On the skull of MNHN-ZM-MO-1987-358 the skull is small and the braincase round with no fronto-parietal crests ( Table 8 View TABLE ). In ventral view, the tympanic bullae are smaller than in the holotype of L. m. bellieri and the other specimens attributed to this species. The incisive foramen is long entering the molar row. The molars display the typical pattern of Lemniscomys , but we were unable to find a dental diagnostic character that distinguishes L. macculus bellieri and L. striatus ( Denys et al. 2020) .