Hylomyscus

The African wood mice ( Hylomyscus ) are a rodent species from the group of Altweltmäuse ( Murinae ). The genus includes nine species.

African wood mice reach a body length 7-12 centimeters, the tail is 8 to 17 centimeters and their weight is 8 to 42 grams. They are reddish-brown to gray- brown at the top, the bottom is white gray. Their fur is soft, the muzzle is pointed, the ears are large.

These rodents live in sub-Saharan Africa. Their habitat is forests and other densely lined with underbrush areas. They are nocturnal and arboreal, climbing quickly and skillfully through the branches. During the day, they retreat into homemade sheets nests, which they invest in tree hollows or other hiding places. Their diet consists of fruit and other plant parts, to a lesser extent they also eat insects.

System

We distinguish nine types:

• Hylomyscus aeta is distributed from Cameroon to Uganda.
• Hylomyscus alleni comes from Guinea to Gabon before.
• Hylomyscus baeri lives in West Africa, from Sierra Leone to Ghana.
• Hylomyscus carillus inhabited the western and central Angola.
• Hylomyscus denniae inhabited different mountain countries in eastern Africa.
• Hylomyscus grandis occurs in Cameroon only in the area of Mount Oku.
• Hylomyscus parvus is distributed from Cameroon to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
• Hylomyscus stella lives between Nigeria and Tanzania.
• Hylomyscus kerbispeterhansi, was originally confused with H. denniae and 2014 described as an independent species. The species occurs in western Kenya.

Most species are not endangered according to IUCN. However, special attention should be paid the species H. baeri, which is considered " high risk " ( endangered ) and H. grandis, which is listed as " threatened with extinction " ( critically endangered ).

Systematically, the genus is part of the Stenocephalemys group.