Northern Giant Pouched Rat
Cricetomys gambianus Waterhouse, 1840
Also calledCricétome de Gambia (fra) · Cricétome de Gambie (fra) · Cricétome des Savanes (fra) · Dev avurdu keseli fare (tur) · Gafiya (hau) · Gambia-Riesenhamsterratte (deu) · Gambiahamsterrat (nld) · Gambiahamsterrotte (nob) · Kuhe (swa) · Rata Gigante con Abazones Sub-Saheliana (spa) · Rata de Abazones Gigante Septentrional (spa) · Ratto gigante del Gambia (ita) · Wielkoszczur (pol) · krysa obrovská (ces)
First described in: Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. vol.1840 p.2
Descriptions from checklists and floras indexed by GBIF
discussion
REMARKS The species was reported by Heim de Balsac & Lamotte (1958) on a Mount Nimba crest between 1550 and 1750 m. Coe (1975) found one individual at 500 m in the secondary forest and one specimen at 1300 m at the edge of the Parinari forest. Misonne & Verschuren (1976) collected three specimens in New Camp and Iti on the Liberian side of Mount Nimba that they attributed to C. gambianus in ombrophylous forest. We collected one specimen in an Hevea plantation at around 500 m during Mission 3 on the Liberian side of the Mount. Camera traps allowed to vizualize some individuals in lowland forest in Liberia in 2017 (Appendix 8). Coe (1975) indicated the external measurements for seven Cricetomys gambianus which he collected on the Liberian side of the Nimba. Unfortunately these specimens are not housed in the NHM and could not be examined (P. Jenckins pers. comm). We only have the external measurements available (Table 9). The specimen MNHN-ZM-MO- 1981 - 558 from Mount Nimba has no skin available and its broken skull is very damaged (left [premaxillary + maxillary + M 1, two broken mandibles, left with m 2 and right with m 12]) and none of the skull distance measurements could be take
Annotated checklist of rodents from a biodiversity hotspot, Mount Nimba (West Africa)
discussion
Discussion: The range outlined here basically corresponds to Hinton’s (1919 b) grouping of relatively small-bodied Cricetomys with gray, moderately long and hispid pelage. Morphological, behavioral, and ecological contrasts between C. gambianus proper and C. emini elucidated by Genest-Villard (1967) and Rosevear (1969).
Order Rodentia - Family Nesomyidae
distribution
Distribution: Subsaharan savanna belt (Sudan and Guinea) and forest edges, from Gambia and Senegal eastwards to NE Dem. Rep. Congo, S Sudan, and N Uganda.
Order Rodentia - Family Nesomyidae
distribution
DISTRIBUTION: Savannah and forest edges from Senegal and Sierra Leone east to S Sudan and N Uganda; southwards, exclusive of Congo forest block, to S Angola, S Zambia, and E Natal, South Africa.
Order Rodentia - Family Muridae
Where it has been recorded
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Cricetomys gambianus in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
From the GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and occurrence records (GBIF.org), with Wikipedia and the Source Library. GBIF species 2438550.