Silver Dik-dik

Silver Dik-dik
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Bovidae
Genus: Madoqua
Species: M. piacentinii
Binomial name
Madoqua piacentinii
Drake-Brockman, 1911

The Silver Dik-dik (Madoqua piacentinii) is a small antelope found in low, dense thickets along the southeastern coast of Somalia and in Acacia-Commiphora bushland in the Shebelle Valley in southeastern Ethiopia.[1] It is the smallest species of dik-dik with a length of 45–50 centimetres (18–20 in), a height of 30–33 centimetres (12–13 in) and a weight of 2–3 kilograms (4.4–6.6 lb).[2] Its back and flanks are grizzled silvery, while the limbs, ears and muzzle are ochraceus in colour.[2] Little is known about its status, but numbers are believed to be decreasing.[1]

Together with the closely related Salt's Dik-dik, this species forms the subgenus Madoqua in the genus Madoqua (other dik-diks are also in the genus Madoqua, but the subsgenus Rhynchotragus).[3][4] The taxonomy of this subgenus is complex and a matter of dispute. Though most recent authorities treat the Silver Dik-dik as a monotypic species,[1][5] it has been suggested that the Silver Dik-dik should be treated as a subspecies of the Swayne's Dik-dik[3] (itself now usually treated as a subspecies of the Salt's Dik-dik).[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group (2008). Madoqua piacentinii. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 29 March 2009. Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is of data deficient.
  2. ^ a b Kingdon, J. (1997). The Kingdon Guide to African Mammals. Academic Press. ISBN 0-12-408355-2
  3. ^ a b Ansell, W. F. H. (1972). Order Artiodactyla. Part 15. Pp. 1-84. in: Meester, J., and H. W. Setzer, eds (1972). The mammals of Africa: An identification manualSmithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.
  4. ^ a b Wilson, Don E.; Reeder, DeeAnn M., eds (2005). Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols. (2142 pp.). ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494. http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3/browse.asp?id=14200592. 
  5. ^ Wilson, Don E.; Reeder, DeeAnn M., eds (2005). Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols. (2142 pp.). ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494. http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3/browse.asp?id=14200601.