Gray spiny mouse

The gray spiny mouse, Acomys cineraceus, is a small rodent of the family Muridae, the large family of mice and rats within the order Rodentia. The name was published by Fitzinger and Heuglin in 1866, and the species belongs to the genus Acomys, the spiny mice. It is recorded from Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan and Uganda, a band of eastern and northeastern Africa. Its natural habitats are listed as dry savanna, moist savanna, rocky areas, arable land and rural gardens, so it lives both in open wild country and close to farmed and settled ground. The taxonomic placement follows the Mammal Species of the World reference of Musser and Carleton (2005), and this record rests on the Wikipedia account and the GBIF backbone entry for the name.