Taxonomic status and remarks on ecology of the Malawian mole-rat Cryptomys whytei (Rodentia, Bathyergidae)

Mole-rats from Karonga, Malawi, the type locality of Cryptomys hottentotus whytei, and a single female mole-rat from the Malawian Nyika Plateau exhibit a karyotype 2n = 46 chromosomes, with 15 metacentric and 8 acrocentric chromosomes, ie NF (female) = 76. This trait, together with several morphological features and a previously published genetic analysis (Ingram et al. 2004), identifies this species as a good species, unrelated to Cryptomys hottentotus of South Africa, which belongs to the Zambezian clade of the genus Cryptomys sensu lato (cf Ingram et al. 2004) and should be therefore called Whyte's mole-rat, Cryptomys whytei. Available data on ecology and reproductive biology suggest similar characteristics as in other mole-rats of the genus. Unexpected finding of large complicated underground burrow systems contrasted, however, with very few above ground mounds.