Northwestern fat mouse


The northwestern fat mouse is a species of rodent in the family Nesomyidae. It is native to tropical West Africa where it occurs on grassland and crop land.

Taxonomy

The northwestern fat mouse was first described as Steatomys caurinus by the British zoologist Oldfield Thomas in 1912. Coatzee considered it, in 1977, to be a subspecies of the fat mouse, but Swanepoel and Schlitter elevated it to full species rank in 1978.

Description

The northwestern fat mouse has a head-and-body length of between and a tail length of between. It weighs between. It is a dark reddish-brown colour and always has ten or more nipples. It is one of three species of fat mouse occurring in West Africa. It can be distinguished from the dainty fat mouse by being larger and darker, by having a shorter tail and by having more nipples. The third species, Jackson's fat mouse, does not share the same range, being found only in southern Ghana and southern Nigeria.

Distribution and habitat

It is found in Benin, southern Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, northern Ghana, southwestern Mali, Niger, northern Nigeria, Senegal, and Togo, where its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry shrubland and agricultural land.

Status

The northwestern fat mouse is a somewhat uncommon species showing considerable population swings. It has a wide range and a presumed large total population, and is present in several protected areas, so the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as "least concern".