{{Short description|Species of rodent}} {{Speciesbox | image = Leimacomys_buettneri.jpg | status = DD | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name = "IUCN">{{cite iucn |author=Van der Straeten , E. |year=2016 |errata=2017 |title=''Leimacomys buettneri'' |volume=2016 |article-number=e.T11387A115101982 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T11387A22460002.en |access-date=22 June 2021}}</ref> | display_parents = 2 | grandparent_authority = Musser & Carleton, 2005 | parent_authority = Matschie, 1893 | taxon = Leimacomys buettneri | authority = Matschie, 1893 | range_map = Distribution of Leimacomys buettneri.tif }}
The '''Togo mouse''' ('''''Leimacomys buettneri'''''), also known as '''Büttner's African forest mouse''' or the '''groove-toothed forest mouse''', is a unique muroid rodent known from only two specimens taken from near the type locality of Bismarckburg near Yege, Togo, in 1890. Its genus is monotypic.
== Description and natural history == The entirety of known material for this species consists of a single, poor-quality dry skin, a fluid-preserved animal, and a cranium and mandible. The cranium and mandible are from different animals. The material is deposited in the Zoologisches Museum of Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany.
The head and body length is {{cvt|118|mm}} with a tail of {{cvt|37|mm}}. This tail is unusually short relative to the body length (ratio of 37%) and is considered an important diagnostic feature. The animal is dark-to-grey brown above and pale grey brown below. Its ears are small and hairy. The feet are also somewhat hairy. The tail may be naked or slightly haired.
The incisors are shallowly grooved. The snout is long and wide, the interorbital width is broad, and the zygomatic plate is large.<ref name=MSW3>{{MSW3 Muroidea}}</ref>
Based on skull morphology, the Togo mouse is presumed to be insectivorous.<ref name=Dieterlen>{{cite journal|author=Dieterlen, F. |year=1976|title= Bemerkungen über ''Leimacomys büttneri'' Matschie, 1893 (Dendromurinae), Cricetidae, Rodentia)|journal= Säugetierkunde|volume= 39|pages=229–231|lang=de}} </ref> Very little is known about the habits of this unusual mouse.
== Classification == ''Leimacomys'' has been transferred back and forth between the Dendromurinae and the Murinae since its discovery. It most closely resembles ''Lophuromys'', which has been transferred to a newly erected Deomyinae on the basis of molecular data. The association with ''Lophuromys'' is thought to be due to convergent evolution due to similar diets.<ref name=Dieterlen/> Tooth characters resemble dendromurines, ''Mystromys'' or basal gerbils. Denys et al. generated a phylogeny that suggested, with limited support, ''Leimacomys'' is a sister taxon to the Gerbillinae.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Denys, C.|author2= J. Michaux|author3= F. Catzeflis|author4= S. Ducrocq |author5= P. Chevret |year=1995|title= Morphological and molecular data against the monophyly of Dendromurinae (Muridae: Rodentia) |journal=Bonner Zoologische Beiträge|volume= 45|pages=173–190}}</ref>
Musser and Carleton chose to erect a new subfamily, '''Leimacomyinae''', to house this species. They placed it in the family Muridae due to its potential connection to either the Gerbillinae or Deomyinae, but emphasized that a broad phylogenetic study including ''Leimacomys'', and a host of nesomyids and murids, is needed to determine its appropriate position.<ref name=MSW3/>
== Conservation status == The Togo mouse is considered to be either critically endangered or extinct depending on the authority. Schlitter<ref>{{cite report|author=Schlitter, D. A. |year=1989|chapter= African rodents of special concern |pages= 33–39 |title=Rodents: a world survey of species of conservation concern|editor= W. Z. Lidicker Jr. |series=Occasional Papers no. 4 |institution=IUCN Species Survival Commission |issn=1026-4965}}</ref> classified it as extinct, because subsequent surveys to the area failed to recover it. Grubb et al. (1998)<ref>{{Cite book|author=Grubb, P.|author2= T. S. Jones|author3= A. G. Davies|author4= E. Edberg|author5= E. D. Starin |author6= J. E. Hill|year= 1998|title= Mammals of Ghana, Sierra Leone and The Gambia|publisher= The Trendrine Press|location= Cornwall}}</ref> noted these surveys inadequately sampled appropriate habitat in Togo and neighboring Ghana, and they were reluctant to declare the species extinct. Musser and Carleton<ref name=MSW3/> also emphasized that the insectivorous muroids as a group have proven difficult to capture, and intense surveys of high-elevation forests in this region are required to determine if it still persists.
The IUCN currently describes the Togo mouse as "data deficient".<ref name = "IUCN" /> This species has also been recently added on Re:wild's 25 most wanted lost species.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Re:wild's Search for Lost Species |url=http://www.rewild.org/lost-species/top-25-most-wanted-lost-species |access-date=2023-11-26 |website=www.rewild.org |language=en}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== *{{cite book|author=Nowak, Ronald M. |year=1999|title=Walker's Mammals of the World|edition= 6th |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|isbn=978-0-8018-5789-8}}
{{Muridae}} {{Myomorpha|E.|state=collapsed}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q538618}}
Category:Muridae Category:Mammals of West Africa Category:Endemic fauna of Togo Category:Rodents of Africa Togo mouse