Murine rodents are one of the most evolutionary successful groups of extant mammals. They are also important for human as vectors and reservoirs of zoonoses and agricultural pests. Unfortunately, their fast and relatively recent diversification impedes our understanding of phylogenetic relationships and species limits of many murine taxa, including those with very conspicuous phenotype that has been frequently used for taxonomic purposes. One of such groups are the striped grass mice (genus Lemniscomys), distributed across sub-Saharan Africa in 11 currently recognized species. These are traditionally classified into three morphological groups according to different pelage colouration on the back: (a) L. barbarus group (three species) with several continuous pale longitudinal stripes; (b) L. striatus group (four species) with pale stripes diffused into short lines or dots; and (c) L. griselda group (four species) with a single mid-dorsal black stripe. Here we reconstructed the most comprehensive molecular phylogeny of the genus Lemniscomys to date, using the largest currently available multi-locus genetic dataset of all but two species. The results show four main lineages (=species complexes) with the distribution corresponding to the major biogeographical regions of Africa. Surprisingly, the four phylogenetic lineages are only in partial agreement with the morphological classification, suggesting that the single-stripe and/or multi-striped phenotypes evolved independently in multiple lineages. Divergence dating showed the split of Lemniscomys and Arvicanthis genera at the beginning of Pleistocene; most of subsequent speciation processes within Lemniscomys were affected by Pleistocene climate oscillations, with predominantly allopatric diversification in fragmented savanna biome. We propose taxonomic suggestions and directions for future research of this striking group of African rodents.

CBGP IRD CIRAD INRAE Institut Agro Univ Montpellier 755 avenue du Campus Agropolis CS 30016 34988 Montferrier sur Lez cedex France

Department of Botany and Zoology Faculty of Science Masaryk University Kotlářská 2 611 37 Brno Czech Republic

Department of Zoology Faculty of Science University of South Bohemia Branišovská 1760 370 05 České Budějovice Czech Republic

Institut de Systématique Evolution Biodiversité Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle CNRS Sorbonne Université EPHE Université des Antilles CP51 75005 Paris France

Institute of Vertebrate Biology of the Czech Academy of Sciences Květná 8 603 65 Brno Czech Republic

Institute of Vertebrate Biology of the Czech Academy of Sciences Květná 8 603 65 Brno Czech Republic; Department of Botany and Zoology Faculty of Science Masaryk University Kotlářská 2 611 37 Brno Czech Republic

Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution Russian Academy of Sciences Leninskii pr 33 Moscow 119071 Russia

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