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83. Lake Chad Tateril Taterillus lacustris French: Gerbille du Tchad / German: Tschadsee-Taterillus / Spanish: Gerbillo del Chad Other common names: Lake Chad Gerbil Taxonomy. Tatera lacustris Thomas & Wroughton, 1907, “Lake Chad,” Nigeria. Taterillus lacustris was placed in synonymy with 7. gracilis by D. R. Rosevear in 1969, while some others, including F. Petter in 1975 and C. B. Robbins in 1977, claimed its validity mainly on basis of its unique cytogenetic characters. Some new cytogenetic and morphometric analyses confirm the species as valid. Monotypic. Distribution. NE Nigeria and N Cameroon, S ofLake Chad. Descriptive notes. Head-body 105-137 mm,tail 134-162 mm, ear 18-22 mm, hindfoot 29-5-32 mm; weight 31-52 g. The Lake Chad Tateril is a medium-sized gerbil, brownish red dorsally and with pure white ventral pelage, with some white cheek, supraorbital and post-auricular spots. Dark hindfoot soles are bare. Long hairy tail (120-140% of head-body length) terminates in a long dark pencil. Females bear four pairs of mammae. Karyotype 2n = 28-30. Habitat. Bush savannas, fallow lands, or cultivated areas. Food and Feeding. The Lake Chad Tateril is probably omnivorous,like other members of genus. Breeding. No information. Activity patterns. Lake Chad Taterils are probably nocturnal and terrestrial. Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information. Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red Lust. Bibliography. Granjon & Duplantier (2009), Happold (2013a), Petter (1975a), Robbins (1977), Rosevear (1969), Tranier et al. (1973)., Published as part of Don E. Wilson, Russell A. Mittermeier & Thomas E. Lacher, Jr, 2017, Muridae, pp. 536-884 in Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 7 Rodents II, Barcelona :Lynx Edicions on page 623, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6887260

Rodent diagnosis has long remained obscured by the co-existence of cryptic species in many lineages. However, alternative and accessible methods, such as cytotaxonomy and DNA-based methods, are now available that allow biologists to accurately monitor biodiversity through the production of well documented lists of unambiguously species-specific identifications. As a continuation of our previous surveys of West African rodents, we here present the first rodent inventory of rodents from Northern Cameroon (as well as one locality in Western Chad) that fully relies on karyotypic and/or sequencing data. Doing so, we assess the presence of 18 species in this poorly documented region. Among them, we found several African spiny mice that could be referred as to A. johannis, a poorly documented species. Moreover, several Arvicanthis individuals could be aggregated with previously studied but still enigmatic specimens of ANI-2 and ANI-4 sensu Volobouev et al., 2002a , Volobouev et al., 2002b , thus suggesting that they may all belong to one single species, namely A. rufinus. In addition, one specimen was shown to belong to a new biological species (Praomys sp.) that will deserve further taxonomic investigations. Finally, several Taterillus specimens were found with 2n = 28–30 chromosomes and a XX/XY1Y2 sex chromosome system. On the basis of these new results as well as a reinterpretation of previously published data, we propose to refer these individuals as to the poorly documented Taterillus lacustris. Altogether, our data suggest that Northern Cameroon is a “phylogeographical node” for several rodent lineages which may be at least partly explained by the past changes within the Lake Chad basin. Keeping this in mind, there is little doubt that biodiversity will undergo important modifications in the coming decades, following the increasing aridity and the drastic reduction of Lake Chad.

Taterillus lacustris (Thomas and Wroughton, 1907). Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, 19:37. TYPE LOCALITY: Nigeria, Lake Chad (= Kaddai). DISTRIBUTION: NE Nigeria and Cameroon. COMMENTS: Rosevear (1969) synonymized this with T. gracilis, but both Robbins (1974, 1977) and Petter (1975b) treated it as a distinct species., Published as part of Guy G. Musser & Michael D. Carleton, 1993, Order Rodentia - Family Muridae, pp. 501-755 in Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition), Washington and London :Smithsonian Institution Press on page 563, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7353098, {"references":["Rosevear, D. R. 1969. The rodents of West Africa. Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History), London, 677: 1 - 604.","Robbins, C. B. 1974. Comments on the taxonomy of the West African Taterillus (Rodentia: Cricetidae) with the description of a new species. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 87: 395 - 404.","Robbins, C. B. 1977. A review of the taxonomy of the African gerbils, Taterillus (Rodentia: Cricetidae). Pp. 178 - 194, in Uspekhi sovremennoi teriologii [Advances in modern theriology] (V. E. Sokolov, ed.). Nauka, Moscow, 296 pp. (in Russian).","Petter, F. 1975 b. Subfamily Gerbillinae. Part 6.3. Pp. 7 - 12, in The mammals of Africa: An identification manual (J. Meester and H. W. Setzer, eds.) [issued 10 Dec 1975]. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C., not continuously paginated."]}

Taterillus lacustris (Thomas and Wroughton, 1907). Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, 19:37. TYPE LOCALITY: Nigeria, Lake Chad (=Kaddai). DISTRIBUTION: N.E. Nigeria; Cameroun; possibly Chad and Niger. COMMENT: Reviewed by Robbins, 1975, Unpubl. Ph.D. Dissertation, Univ. Arizona, p. 33. ISIS NUMBER: 5301410008099005001., Published as part of James H. Honacki, Kenneth E. Kinman & James W. Koeppl, 1982, Order Rodentia (Part 3), pp. 392-476 in Mammal Species of the World (1 st Edition), Lawrence, Kansas, USA :Alien Press, Inc. & The Association of Systematics Collections on page 471, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7353031