| Bocage's African Fat Mouse | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Information | |
| Range | Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Republic of the Congo. |
| Scientific Classification | |
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Class | Mammalia |
| Order | Rodentia |
| Family | Nesomyidae |
| Genus | Steatomys |
| Species | Steatomys bocagei |
| Conservation Status | |
 Least Concern | |
The Bocage's African fat mouse (Steatomys bocagei), is a species of nesomyid It is found in Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Republic of the Congo. Given the distribution of the species across the Angolan Plateau and south-west of the DRC throughout central Africa, the probability of a 'large population', and the security of its habitat, the International Union for Conservation of Nature recognizes Steatomys bocagei as stable. Whereas taxonomies early in the twentieth century posit Steatomys bocagei as a species, more contemporary records from 1977 onwards identify it as indistinguishable from Steatomys pratensis. In 1998, however, Crawford-Cabral proposed that the additional pair of teats in Steatomys bocagei required separation from Steatomys pratensis. Subsequent to Crawford-Cabral's publication, Wilson and Reader maintain in Mammal Species of the World that the size of these species also requires differentiation, where Steatomys bocagei is significantly larger than Steatomys pratensis and is unique or otherwise corresponds to Steatomys opimus.