NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Common Grammomys
Grammomys dolichurus (Smuts, 1832)
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.
Letaba Night Drive, Kruger NP, SOUTH AFRICA
Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The woodland thicket rat (Grammomys dolichurus), also known as the woodland mouse, is a species of rodent in the family Muridae.
It is found in Angola, Burundi, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, South Sudan, Eswatini, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Uganda.
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, subtropical or tropical high-altitude shrubland, subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland, arable land, pastureland, and urban areas. It has a total length of 27 cm and its mass is 30g. Nests are made of fine grass and vegetation, usually up to 2 m above ground, and in some cases they make use of the nests of weaver birds (Ploceidae).
Wikipedia contributors, Woodland thicket rat; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T05:15:17.059476+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Grammomys dolichurus (Smuts, 1832)
- Name authority
- (Smuts, 1832)
- Common name
- Common Grammomys
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Rodentia
- Family
- Muridae
- Genus
- Grammomys
- 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
- genusGrammomys Thomas, 1915
- speciesGrammomys dolichurus (Smuts, 1832)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Grammomys. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Arid Woodland GrammomysGrammomys aridulus Thomas & Hinton, 1923 | MuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Gray-headed GrammomysGrammomys caniceps Hutterer & Dieterlen, 1984 | MuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Eastern Rainforest GrammomysGrammomys kuru (Thomas & Wroughton, 1907) | MuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Albertine Rift GrammomysGrammomys dryas (Thomas, 1907) | MuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Macmillan's GrammomysGrammomys macmillani (Wroughton, 1907) | MuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Bunting's GrammomysGrammomys buntingi (Thomas, 1911) | MuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Mozambique GrammomysGrammomys cometes (Thomas & Wroughton, 1908) | MuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Mount Kenya GrammomysGrammomys gigas (Dollman, 1911) | MuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| East African GrammomysGrammomys ibeanus (Osgood, 1910) | MuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Ethiopian GrammomysGrammomys minnae Hutterer & Dieterlen, 1984 | MuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Western Rainforest GrammomysGrammomys poensis (Eisentraut, 1965) | MuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Thamnomys surdaster Thomas & Wroughton, 1908 Thomas & Wroughton, 1908 | synonym |
| Thamnomys surdaster polionops Osgood, 1910 Osgood, 1910 | synonym |
| Mus arborarius True, 1892 True, 1892 | ambiguous synonym |
| Thamnomys discolor Thomas, 1910 Thomas, 1910 | synonym |
| Thamnomys dolichurus littoralis Heller, 1912 Heller, 1912 | synonym |
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=585231 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.
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:3H789. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.