Orycteropus afer faradjius is a savanna aardvark of the north-east Congo, described from Faradje, where the type was collected.[1]
Names and classification
Hatt named it in 1932 as Orycteropus erikssoni faradjius, a subspecies of erikssoni, in American Museum Novitates 535.[1][2] The type, an adult male skin and skeleton (AMNH 51373), was collected at Faradje, Haut-Uele, Belgian Congo, on 14 January 1913 by Herbert Lang.[1][2] Allen moved it under afer in 1939.[2][3]
The Mammal Diversity Database treats this name as a synonym of the single species, Orycteropus afer.[2] Taylor’s 2011 account lists it among 18 named subspecies, but says that neither their validity nor the limits of their ranges are properly known.[4]
Description
Hatt described a large aardvark resembling erikssoni of the forests of the upper Congo, but slightly smaller, with longer ears and shorter front claws.[1] The type is an adult male skin and skeleton (AMNH 51373), collected at Faradje, Haut-Uele, on 14 January 1913 by Herbert Lang. It measured 1,750 mm in total length, with a tail of 610 mm.[1] In 1934 he gave averages for ten adults: total length 1,750 mm, tail 642 mm, ear 170 mm.[5]
Range
It is a savanna form, given as living in the north-east of the DR Congo and north-west Uganda.[4][1]
Status
Eighteen subspecies have been named, but that number is almost certainly too high, and because so little material exists, neither the status nor the limits of range of the subspecies are known.[6] Treat this name as a historical description, not as a settled form. See the full list of names.
Sources
- Hatt 1932, “The aardvark of the Haut-Uele”, American Museum Novitates 535
- Mammal Diversity Database, Orycteropus afer
- Allen 1939, “A checklist of African mammals”, Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 83
- Taylor 2011, Order Tubulidentata, in Handbook of the Mammals of the World, vol. 2
- Hatt 1934, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 66(7)
- California Academy of Sciences, Afrotheria research page: Tubulidentata (secondary)