Barbary striped grass mouse
The Barbary striped grass mouse (Lemniscomys barbarus) is a small rodent of the suborder Myomorpha. This monotypic species is native to coastal Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia in northwest Africa.[1][2][3] In the past it was believed to also occur throughout a large part of Sub-Saharan Africa, but these populations are now treated as a separate species, the Heuglin's striped grass mouse (L. zebra).[2][3] These relatively small Lemniscomys are among the species most commonly kept in captivity.[4]
| Barbary striped grass mouse | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Muridae |
| Genus: | Lemniscomys |
| Species: | L. barbarus |
| Binomial name | |
| Lemniscomys barbarus (Linnaeus, 1766) | |
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The Barbary, Heuglin's and Hoogstral's striped grass mouse (L. hoogstraali) form a group that have a distinctly dark and light striped pelage.[3] Other Lemniscomys either have more spotty/interrupted stripes or only a single dark stripe along the back.[3]
References
- van der Straeten, E. (2008). "Lemniscomys barbarus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2008. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
- Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M., eds. (2005). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
- Carleton, M D., and Van der Straeten, E. (1997). Morphological differentiation among Subsaharan and north African populations of the Lemniscomys barbarus complex (Rodentia : Muridae). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 110(4): 640-680.
- Tofts, Russel. Striped Mouse. Archived September 6, 2007, at the Wayback Machine