Striped grass mouse

Not to be confused with Rhabdomys.

Lemniscomys, sometimes known as striped grass mice or zebra mice, is a genus of murine rodents from Africa. Most species are from Sub-Saharan Africa; L. barbarus is the only one found north of the Sahara.^[1] They are generally found in grassy habitats, but where several species overlap in distribution there is a level of habitat differentiation between them.^[1]

Striped grass mouse Temporal range: Late Pliocene to Recent
Barbary striped grass mouse (Lemniscomys barbarus)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Muridae
Tribe:	Arvicanthini
Genus:	Lemniscomys Trouessart, 1881
Type species
Mus barbarus
Species
11, see text

They are 18.5–29 cm (7.3–11.4 in) long, of which about half is tail, and weigh 18–70 g (0.63–2.47 oz).^[1] The pelage pattern of the species fall into three main groups: The "true" zebra mice with distinct dark and pale stripes (L. barbarus, L. hoogstraali and L. zebra), the spotted grass mice with more spotty/interrupted stripes (L. bellieri, L. macculus, L. mittendorfi and L. striatus), and the single-striped grass mice with only a single dark stripe along the back (L. griselda, L. linulus, L. rosalia and L. roseveari).^[2][3]

They are generally considered diurnal, but at least some species can be active during the night.^[3] They feed on plants, but sometimes take insects.^[1] There are up to 12 young per litter, but 4–5 is more common.^[3] The life expectancy is very short, in the wild often only a year, but a captive L. striatus lived for almost 5 years.^[3] A more typical captive life expectancy is 2–2½ years.^[4]

While most are common and not threatened, L. mittendorfi is restricted to Mount Oku and considered Vulnerable by the IUCN.^[5] L. hoogstraali and L. roseveari are both very poorly known, leading to their rating as Data Deficient.^[6][7] Some of the widespread species are regularly kept in captivity, especially L. barbarus, L. striatus and L. zebra.^[4]

Systematics

The etymology of the genus name Lemniscomys derives from the two ancient greek words λημνίσκος (lēmnískos), meaning "stripe, ribbon", and μῦς (mûs), meaning "mouse, rat",^[8][9] and refers to the pelage pattern.

Lemniscomys currently includes 11 species.^[10] Until 1997, L. zebra was generally treated as a subspecies of L. barbarus.^[2] It is possible L. striatus and L. zebra, as presently defined, actually are species complexes.^[11][12]

• Lemniscomys barbarus (Linnaeus, 1766) — Barbary striped grass mouse
• Lemniscomys bellieri Van der Straeten, 1975 — Bellier's striped grass mouse
• Lemniscomys griselda (Thomas, 1904) — Griselda's striped grass mouse
• Lemniscomys hoogstraali Dieterlen, 1991 — Hoogstraal's striped grass mouse
• Lemniscomys linulus (Thomas, 1910) — Senegal one-striped grass mouse
• Lemniscomys macculus (Thomas and Wroughton, 1910) — Buffoon striped grass mouse
• Lemniscomys mittendorfi Eisentraut, 1968 — Mittendorf's striped grass mouse
• Lemniscomys rosalia (Thomas, 1904) — single-striped grass mouse
• Lemniscomys roseveari Van der Straeten, 1980 — Rosevear's striped grass mouse
• Lemniscomys striatus (Linnaeus, 1758) — typical striped grass mouse
• Lemniscomys zebra (Heuglin, 1864) — Heuglin's striped grass mouse