Striped grass mouse

Berber stripes grass mouse ( Lemniscomys barbarus )

The grass strip mice ( Lemniscomys ) are a rodent species from the group of Altweltmäuse ( Murinae ).

Features

Grass strips mice reach a body length 8-14 cm, added an 8 to 16 centimeters long tail. Your weight varies 18-68 grams. Your coarse fur is dark gray to dark brown at the top, the underside is whitish to light gray. Within the genus, three different forms of striations may occur: With the single stripe grass mouse ( Lemniscomys rosalia ) is merely a dark dorsal stripe present in some other species, including the hawksbill strip grass mouse ( Lemniscomys striatus), are located in rows arranged bright spots, which are sometimes strip are fused. The Berber stripes Grass Mouse finally has a plurality of solid, light vertical stripes on their backs.

Dissemination and lifestyle

Grass strips mice are widespread throughout Africa, their range extends from Morocco to South Africa. Depending on the type they inhabit different habitats, from savannah and steppe to grasslands and forest clearings. They build nests of leaves and spherical grasses, which are suspended in the tall grass or low shrubs. They dig burrows not, but flee in case of danger often created by other animals Erdgänge. The food are grasses and seeds, sometimes insects. They are predominantly diurnal, of each type, there are also reports of twilight or night activity.

Grass mice tend to live solitary. The potential life expectancy is four to five years, in the wild is likely that age but are hardly ever achieved. Due to the variety of enemies and aboveground life die almost all grass mice from the age of one year. According grass strip mice are very reproductive. A litter includes one to twelve boy; is thrown during the rainy seasons, the last in East Africa from April to June and from September to December. During these periods, there may be several litters each; a living in captivity couple moved into a period of only 15 weeks to four litters.

Systematics and hazard

Wilson and Reeder (2005) lists the following eleven species:

• The Real strip grass mouse ( Lemniscomys striatus ), also called Tüpfelgrasmaus inhabited savannahs south of the Sahara in almost all of Africa.
• The Griselda Strip grass mouse ( Lemniscomys griselda ) lives in Angola and neighboring areas.
• The Senegal - single stripe grass mouse ( Lemniscomys linulus ) inhabited clearings from Senegal to the Ivory Coast.
• The single stripe grass mouse ( Lemniscomys rosalia ) is distributed from Kenya to South Africa.
• The Rosevear Strip grass mouse ( Lemniscomys roseveari ) is only known from two locations in Zambia.
• Lemniscomys macculus comes from southern Sudan prior to the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
• The Berber stripes grass mouse ( Lemniscomys barbarus ) lives in northern Africa from Morocco to Tunisia.
• Lemniscomys zebra lives south of the Sahara in a strip from Senegal to Tanzania. Sometimes it is combined with the Berber stripes grass mouse to one species.
• The Bellier Strip grass mouse ( Lemniscomys bellieri ) inhabits dry savanna in western Africa.
• The Mittendorf strip grass mouse ( Lemniscomys mittendorfi ) lives only on the shores of Lake Oku in Cameroon.
• The Hoogstraal Strip grass mouse ( Lemniscomys hoogstraali ) is known only from one specimen, which was found in 1961 on the banks of the Nile in Sudan.

The IUCN lists the Mittendorf strip grass mouse as "endangered" ( vulnerable ) for which Rosevear Strip grass mouse and Hoogstraal Strip grass mouse data are too few available ( data deficient ). The remaining eight species are considered " not at risk " ( least concern ).

Systematically, the grass strip mice are classified within the Altweltmäuse in the Arvicanthis group.