Talk:Barbary striped grass mouse

Expert needed, taxonomic mess

Resolved

This page is a taxonomic mess. The article should be about the Barbary Striped Grass Mouse (Lemniscomys barbarus). In the past it included a whole range of subspecies found widely in Africa, but today these are treated as separate species (see genus page) and the Barbary Striped Grass Mouse is a monotypic species restricted Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia (see e.g., MSW3 and IUCN). In summary, virtually everything in this article is outdated (e.g., subspecies list in taxonomic section) or information for the entire genus (including English names "zebra mouse" and "African striped grass mouse"); not specific to the species the article actually is supposed to deal with. Additionally, while both currently used inline citations are dead, it is evident that the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums citation used the up-to-date taxonomy (quote, "11 species"), but the Russel Tofts citation didn't (used as basis for subspecies). 212.10.92.211 (talk) 12:41, 10 December 2011 (UTC)

I'm dealing with this now. 212.10.92.211 (talk) 14:10, 10 December 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for fixing this. I wonder whether the pictures are actually correctly identified. I suppose it's hard to say for sure without locality information. Ucucha (talk) 15:08, 10 December 2011 (UTC)

Since a primary difference between them is measurements (e.g., cranium), it is very hard to say if the photo is L. barbarus or the variable L. zebra (which itself may well be a species complex; see updated genus article). 212.10.92.211 (talk) 15:53, 10 December 2011 (UTC)