The afroalpine vlei rat (Otomys orestes) is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found in the high moorlands of Kenya.Carleton, M.D, and E.S. Schaefer. 2006. The status of Otomys orestes dollmani Heller, 1912 (Muridae: Otomyinae), a rodent described from the Mathews Range, central Kenya. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 119: 477–515.
Taxonomy
Musser and Carleton (2005) included a number of asynonyms. Among these was Otomys thomasi (Thomas's vlei rat), which was initially described as a species by Osgood in 1910. However, Taylor et al. (2011) found that O. thomasi, O. zinki (Mount Kilimanjaro vlei rat) and others are distinct from O. orestes.
References
Taylor, P. & Maree, S. 2004. Otomys orestes. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 9 July 2007.