NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
West African Dasymys
Dasymys rufulus Miller, 1900
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The West African shaggy rat (Dasymys rufulus) is a species of rodent in the family Muridae.
It is found in Benin, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland and swamps. It is a common species and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as being of "least concern".
Wikipedia contributors, West African shaggy rat; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:45:34.948859+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Dasymys rufulus Miller, 1900
- Name authority
- Miller, 1900
- Common name
- West African Dasymys
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Rodentia
- Family
- Muridae
- Genus
- Dasymys
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
- subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
- infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
- orderRodentia Bowdich, 1821
- suborderMyomorpha Brandt, 1855
- superfamilyMuroidea Illiger, 1811
- familyMuridae Illiger, 1811
- subfamilyMurinae Illiger, 1811
- genusDasymys Peters, 1875
- speciesDasymys rufulus Miller, 1900
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Dasymys. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Glover Allen's DasymysDasymys alleni Lawrence & Loveridge, 1953 | MuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Crawford-Cabral's DasymysDasymys cabrali W. Verheyen, Hulselmans, Dierckx, Colyn, Leirs & E. Verheyen, 2003 | MuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Angolan DasymysDasymys nudipes (Peters, 1870) | MuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Fox's DasymysDasymys foxi Thomas, 1912 | MuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Common DasymysDasymys incomtus (Sundevall, 1847) | MuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Ruwenzori DasymysDasymys montanus Thomas, 1906 | MuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Rwandan DasymysDasymys rwandae W. Verheyen, Hulselmans, Dierckx, Colyn, Leirs & E. Verheyen, 2003 | MuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Tanzanian DasymysDasymys sua W. Verheyen, Hulselmans, Dierckx, Colyn, Leirs & E. Verheyen, 2003 | MuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=585218 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3496W. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.