The book of antelopes, vol. 2 (of 4)Sclater, Philip Lutley
Science
The book of antelopes, vol. 2 (of 4)
Sclater, Philip Lutley
Antelopes
South of Kilimanjaro this Dik-dik has been obtained by Herr Neumann at
several localities in the interior of German East Africa, in Irangi and
Northern Ugogo, and on Mount Gurui, and by Böhmer near Mpapwa. But Sir
John Kirk assures us that in his extensive experience he has never met
with it on the coast south of the Sabaki River.
The variations in colour of this species have caused us some
difficulty, as while some specimens are strongly black-lined,
without any, or with little, rufous on the sides, neck, and throat,
others are clear rufous, almost without lining, on these parts. The
strongest-lined specimen we have seen comes from Kilimanjaro[4], while
the most rufous is from Lamu. Curiously enough, however, the types,
from Brava, South Somaliland, are fairly intermediate in their colour
between the two, although, if anything, rather more like the one
geographically most distant, that from Kilimanjaro.
In the skulls again, while, as is usual in these Antelopes,
considerable differences are to be observed between any two skulls
compared together, these differences do not appear to be correlated
either with locality or colour-characters. In fact, with regard to the
extension backwards of the premaxillæ towards the nasals, one specimen
in the British Museum Collection has the two extremes on the two sides
of its skull, showing conclusively that this character cannot be relied
upon.
We have therefore come to the conclusion that, so far as the colour
and skull-characters here mentioned are concerned, the Kilimanjaro,
Lamu, and Brava Dik-diks cannot be separated from one another, even as
subspecies or local races.
_December, 1895._
57. GÜNTHER’S DIK-DIK.
MADOQUA GUENTHERI, THOS.
[PLATE XXXI. FIG. 1.]
_Neotragus_, sp., =Lort Phillips=, P. Z. S. 1885, p. 932 (Somali
plateau).
_Neotragus kirkii_, =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1886, p. 504; id. in James,
Unknown Horn of Africa, p. 269 (1888).
_Madoqua guentheri_, =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1894, p. 324 (figs.
of skull) (Ogaden); =Hoyos=, Zu den Aulihan, p. 185 (1895);
=Swayne=, Somaliland, p. 318 (1895).
VERNACULAR NAME:--_Gussuli_ of Somalis (_Swayne_).
Size of _M. kirki_. Proboscis much more elongated. General colour
coarsely grizzled greyish fawn, very much as in Kilimanjaro examples
of _M. kirki_. No rufous on the sides, and that on the limbs very
dull. Crest much mixed with black. Backs of ears greyish fawn.
Skull with the nasals even more shortened than in _M. kirki_, and
the muzzle even longer and slenderer. In fact the whole appearance of
the skull shows that the proboscis is much more developed than in any
other member of the group. Front of the nasals only about level with
the back of the middle premolar. Premaxillæ short, not nearly reaching
the nasals. Basal length (male) 3·6 inches, greatest breadth 2·08,
muzzle to orbit 2·04, tip of nasals to tip of premaxillae 1·56.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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